Horror fans should brace themselves because 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple sounds like it’s going to push the franchise into some deeply unsettling territory.
The upcoming sequel leans hard into the human monsters of its world, and according to director Nia DaCosta, one particular sequence involving Jack O’Connell’s cult leader Jimmy Crystal may be the most disturbing thing the series has ever put on screen.
DaCosta recently opened up about the twisted philosophy driving Jimmy Crystal and his followers, known simply as the Jimmys. Speaking with Bloody-Disgusting, she explained just how far gone these characters really are.
“I mean, they are satanists essentially. They believe in charity, which is what they call it, and cruelty, and it really is inhumane.”
That belief system puts them on a collision course with a very different worldview represented by Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson. DaCosta emphasized how important that contrast is to the sequel’s emotional core.
“For me, the balance of those two things is super important.”
Audiences briefly encountered the Jimmys at the tail end of 28 Years Later, when the tracksuit-clad, blonde-wig-wearing group swooped in to save Alfie Williams’ Spike from a pack of infected. That rescue quickly curdled into something far more sinister, revealing that Sir Jimmy Crystal wasn’t a savior at all.
In The Bone Temple, Jimmy steps into a much larger role, and it sounds like the violence escalates in brutal ways. DaCosta pointed to one sequence that stands above the rest in terms of sheer horror.
“The barn scene in particular is horrifying, but it’s because you realize, wow, these people are disconnected from their beating heart, from their conscience, from, some would say, their souls.
“It’s because of the world they live in. But we also have Kelson, who chooses another way and is in the same world as they are.”
That barn scene is already teased in the latest trailer for The Bone Temple. The footage shows the Jimmys capturing a group of survivors, stringing them up, and subjecting them to unseen horrors while Spike looks on, powerless and terrified.
The implications are chilling. Are these cultists cannibals, similar to the Terminus survivors from The Walking Dead, hanging people like livestock for consumption? Or are they driven purely by cruelty, inflicting pain on both humans and infected alike? The film is clearly saving those answers for the big screen.
The Bone Temple isn’t just about surviving the infected anymore. It’s about confronting what people become when the world strips away empathy and conscience, and what it means to choose a different path in the same nightmare.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple hits theaters on January 16, 2026, and if DaCosta’s comments are any indication, this sequel is going to be grim, intense, and deeply unsettling.
