Watch Order
0 / 4 watchedThe four films as released, which is also the order the story tells.
About 28 Days Later
Danny Boyle shot 28 Days Later (2002) on cheap digital video, and that ugly immediacy is half of why the opening act still works: an empty London, Cillian Murphy wandering out of hospital, then the church and the farmhouse. Alex Garland wrote all three of the core films, which gives the series a throughline most horror franchises lack.
The story jumps forward in real time with each entry, so release order is story order and there is nothing to rearrange. 28 Weeks Later (2007) changes directors and focuses on a military safe zone, while 28 Years Later (2025) returns to Boyle and Garland with a grown-up Spike, then The Bone Temple (2026) picks up days later under Nia DaCosta.
Good to know
Do not skip 28 Weeks Later just because Boyle and Garland sat it out: it is canon, it explains the state of Britain that the Years films inherit, and its opening cottage sequence is one of the best in the series. The Bone Temple ends on a cliffhanger meant to set up a third Years film, but no greenlight had been announced as of September 2026, so treat the saga as pausing at four films for now.
