Cillian Murphy has revealed that he is “available” for a sequel to 28 Days Later.
As part of SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Conversations programme, Murphy spoke for 90-minutes about his impressive career on stage and screen. The conversation, recorded in December, also covered his work on Danny Boyle’s post-apocalyptic horror, 28 Days Later.
Released in 2002 and written by Alex Garland, the movie stars Murphy as a bicycle courier who wakes up from a coma to discover a highly contagious virus has caused societal collapse.
A sequel titled 28 Weeks Later was released in 2008 and focused on the aftermath of the original film’s events, involving the restoration and revitalisation of a wrecked Great Britain. Starring Idris Elba, Jeremy Renner and Robert Carlyle, it also received favourable critical reviews.
Last month, it was announced that a third film titled 28 Years Later was in development. Both Boyle and Garland are set to return, and according to Variety, Murphy is due to be an executive producer.
When the prospect of the sequel was brought up to Murphy, given his character’s survival, the Oppenheimer star said: “I’m available.”
Starring Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson and Christopher Eccleston, 28 Days Later was a commercial and critical success. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the movie had even more of a cultural impact as national lockdown orders mimicked those features in the opening sequence of the movie.
On this impact, Murphy said: “The amount of memes – I do know what a meme is – that everybody sent me during the pandemic of 28 Days Later was crazy.”
He added: “It just shows that good writing is prescient, it always remains prescient and relative.”
Elsewhere, Murphy’s upcoming movie is set to open the Berlin International Film Festival, which is running from February 15-25.