While there have been constant questions and perhaps some hope, the prospect of a third entry in the zombie franchise started with “28 Days Later…” has been increasingly dim. Last fall, writer Alex Garland stated “if there were plans for another movie, I would absolutely know about it.” Meanwhile, director Danny Boyle has consistently remained cagey about coming back for the tentatively titled “28 Months Later…” (the second movie, “28 Weeks Later…” was helmed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo) and he continues to remain cautious not just about the movie, but about the genre as a whole.
Speaking with Wired, Boyle once again reasserts that he’s actually not a fan of zombie movies at all, and even popular fare leaves him cold. “I don’t like zombie movies. I never did. We took a genre and fucked with it. Zombie aficionados, they’re quite precious with all their rules. Like with running: ‘They don’t do that!’ Of course there are so many manifestations of zombies now, the rule book has gone out the window,” he said. “I saw one episode of ‘The Walking Dead,’ and it was very gripping. But the zombies were stumbling around again, which I hate.”
And with the hit show on AMC, and countless movies still coming (“Warm Bodies” dropped back in February, while “World War Z” is on the way), Boyle wonders if there are just too many projects about the undead stumbling around. And as such, the odds on “28 Months Later…” aren’t so hot.
“Given what we’ve just been talking about, it’s very difficult to know whether zombies are overexposed now as a concept. So it’s 40/60 whether it happens or not. But we did have an idea of where to set it and what it might be about,” Boyle said. But just don’t expect him to share just what those ideas are “because they’ll end up in ‘The Walking Dead’ ” he joked.
So, basically? Don’t get your hopes up, but there is a slim margin of a chance “28 Months Later…” will happen. But it seems Boyle is waiting to see how the zombie landscape shakes out and if he has something truly new to say, before pressing on.
