Why it’s called 28 Years Later and not 28 Months Later

28 Years Later will hit cinemas next year, bringing the long wait after 28 Weeks Later to an end… but why isn’t it called 28 Months Later?

In 2002, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland re-energized zombie movies with 28 Days Later. Instead of Romero’s brain-munching undead, this film’s virus specifically targeted the living, stripping them of their civility and leaving them in a state of constant red-eyed rage.

The first movie remains a masterpiece; a monstrous, yet hopeful allegory for the depths of (in)humanity. Its sequel, 28 Weeks Later, lost the prestige of the writer-director duo but it has perhaps the most blood-chilling, pulse-racing opening sequence of any movie in the 21st century.

A new movie was floated as a possibility in 2007. 15 years on, 28 Years Later has finally been announced. However, without the title people expected or Cillian Murphy to star in it.

Why isn’t 28 Years Later called 28 Months Later?

While there hasn’t been an official explanation, considering it’s been so long since the first two films, 28 Years Later is a more appropriate continuation.

That’s not to say it wasn’t originally meant to be Months Later. Shortly after the physical media release of 28 Weeks Later, reports emerged noting that DVD sales would need to be considerable for a third movie to be green-lit.

While promoting Sunshine, Boyle said the story for the next installment had already been mapped out, but in the years to come there were difficulties regarding the rights to the series, as well as other development hurdles.

In 2015, Garland told IGN, “Danny [Boyle] and [producer] Andrew [Macdonald] and I have been having quite serious conversations about it so it is a possibility.”

He said, “It’s more likely to be 28 Months than 28 Years. 28 Years gives you one more place to go. 28 Decades is probably taking the piss.”

Searchlight Pictures

In 2023, as part of an oral history for the first movie, Garland told Inverse he’d “resisted” writing a third entry “because there were things about 28 Weeks that bugged me. I just thought, ‘F**k that. I’d rather try to write a different story in a different world.”

“But a few years ago an idea materialized in my head for what would be really 28 Years Later. Danny always liked the idea,” he added.

28 Years Later has since been announced, and it’s intended to launch a new trilogy, but we’re not expecting Parts 2 and 3 to be called 28 Decades Later and Centuries Later.

Until it comes out, read more about the creepy Easter egg you missed in the 28 Years Later trailer and check out our list of the best movies of 2024