28 Years Later The Bone Temple Cillian Murphy Jim ending explained | Films | Entertainment
When 28 Years Later hit cinemas last year, Danny Boyle revealed that just as Jack O’ Connell’s Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal cameoed at the end before having a major role in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, so does Cillian Murphy’s Jim in the final scene of the latter ahead of 28 Years Later 3.
The Oscar-winner previously starred as Jim in the 2002 original 28 Days Later, which was also written by Alex Garland and directed by Boyle.
Having been executive producer on The Bone Temple and attended its world premiere last night, it’s clear this has been planned from the beginning.
However, 28 Years Later 3 would only be green-lit based on the box office success of the first two films, which were shot back-to-back.
Lucky for Boyle and Murphy, Sony has gone ahead with the third and final film, with Jim set to play a major role after his appearance in The Bone Temple’s final scene, which is explained below.
Following the deaths of Dr Kelson and Crystal, Spike and Kelly escaped the Bone Temple. In the final scene, Murphy’s Jim is in a cottage by the sea, helping his daughter (who he presumably had with Naomie Harris’ Selena from 28 Days Later) with her history revision. This is where Garland’s message across the trilogy gets really explicit as the father and daughter discuss the problem with history repeating itself if you don’t learn from it. The big example being the Nazis and World War 2, following World War 1 and the Weimar Republic. Jim speaks of the problems of populism and nationalism, tying into Garland’s theme of nostalgically misremembering the past in 28 Years Later, with all its isolated Brexit analogy; no doubt aimed at the rise of Right-wing populist movements like Reform and MAGA.
Hearing a noise, Jim and his daughter spot Spike and Kelly fleeing a group of infected, before Murphy’s character confirms that “of course” they will help these fleeing strangers. This is in direct contrast to the evil, destructive Jims Spike came across in the satanic cult, whose uniform was that of the late abuser Jimmy Savile. No doubt, 28 Years Later 3 will have Jim teach Spike how to be a decent man, one who helps those in need, including the alien in a dangerous dog-eat-dog post-apocalyptic Britain. As for the fate of Selena, it’s unclear if she’s there off-screen or if her character has been killed off or moved on. Presumably, it will depend on whether Harris is available to sign on for the movie, as Garland is only just writing the script of the recently green-lit third film.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is out now in cinemas and 28 Years Later 3’s release date is TBC.
