28 Years Later shocks fans with 'magnificent' first trailer

28 Years Later will bring back Danny Boyle and Alex Garland to the apocalyptic nightmare they left Cillian Murphy's Jim in 2002's 28 Days Later, showing a world ravaged by more than just time.

The first trailer was released on Tuesday, 10 December, introducing viewers to the new characters that they will be following played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes and Jodie Comer. While their identities are not revealed, the trio play various survivors forced to reckon with an enemy hellbent on killing everything in its path.

With the infected seemingly changing into more than just rage-filled monsters, Johnson, Comer and Fiennes' characters can be seen fighting for their lives as humanity tries to pick up the pieces of a world left broken by the outbreak 28 years earlier. Viewers were equal parts shocked and transfixed by the trailer, sharing their thoughts on social media about the intense first look at the story.

Watch the 28 Years Later trailer:

One person wrote that the trailer was "magnificent" in their immediate response to the clip on X, formerly known as Twitter, while another simply said: "We are so back".

Reflecting on the trailer, one person commented: "Words literally cannot express how excited I am, I’ve never felt this way about a movie before IT FEELS SURREAL"

Some viewers were both shocked and amazed by the trailer, with one person saying "you guys didn’t have to cook like that", and another added: "I'm so excited for this movie." Another person wrote that the trailer "looks AMAZING!", and one person similarly celebrated that it was a "great trailer [and they] can't wait for this movie."

In an interesting turn of events, the social media channel for the movie responded to multiple tweets with the emoji for "SOS", which could mean something significant.

Over on YouTube, commenters were effusive in their praise of the trailer with one person writing: "Whoever had the pleasure of making this trailer, you did a hell of a job."

Another fan of the trailer wrote: "Most trailers make me think I don't even need to see the movie after it's done. This trailer makes me NEED to see this movie now. I can't wait for this. Bravo." And in a similar vein, one person said: "Easily one of the best trailers I've ever watched in this genre. I genuinely felt uneasy watching it."

Read more:

What we know about 28 Years Later as first poster lands

The Cillian Murphy movies you might have missed

Danny Boyle confirms a follow-up to 'The Beach' has been penned for TV

There were also some viewers who pointed out that they believed they noticed Murphy's Jim in the trailer, as one of the infected looked similar to the character. The zombie was more a walking corpse than anything, but it appeared to share some of the same facial structure as Murphy which prompted viewers to believe that the infected character is being played by him.

28 Years Later is the first of three new movies coming in the franchise, two of which were shot back-to-back on an iPhone. The new movie is written by Garland and directed by Boyle, while the follow-up 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple was directed by Nia DaCosta and co-written by Boyle and Garland.

Little is known about Part II other than it will star Murphy as Jim once again, while the third film in the trilogy remains shrouded in mystery.

28 Years Later premieres in UK cinemas on Friday, 20 June 2025.