When the trailer for 28 Years Later dropped in December 2024, fans quickly latched onto one haunting moment: a skeletal figure crawling up from the earth. With its gaunt frame and hollowed features, the creature immediately drew comparisons to none other than Cillian Murphy, the actor who famously carried Danny Boyle’s original 28 Days Later on his shoulders two decades earlier. 
Social media was flooded with speculation that the Oppenheimer star had returned, this time not as a desperate survivor but as one of the infected.
The assumption wasn’t entirely far-fetched. Murphy’s extreme physical transformation for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer had already made headlines; he shed significant weight to embody the tortured physicist. So when audiences glimpsed the spindly zombie, they put two and two together. The press, too, ran with the theory. But the truth turned out to be far more ordinary – and, to some fans, a little disappointing. The infamous ‘Emaciated Infected’ was not Murphy at all, but a newcomer named Angus Neill, an art dealer and occasional model. Boyle, ever the talent scout, had cast Neill after noticing his striking look – including a 28-inch waist that made him appear otherworldly on screen.
Fast forward to September 2025. Murphy, notoriously uninterested in social media and described by The Observer as “chronically offline,” finally addressed the rumors. His reaction was pure dry wit. “That’s great people think I look like a zombie cadaver,” he said. “It’s very flattering.” He revealed that it wasn’t the internet that brought the rumor to him, but his son, who made sure dad knew he had unintentionally become a meme. True to form, Murphy didn’t seem bothered – if anything, he seemed amused at the absurdity.
But while Murphy wasn’t the walking corpse fans thought they saw, he isn’t completely absent from the franchise’s new era. He confirmed he has a role – albeit a small one – in the sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. The new film is designed as the bridge to a planned trilogy, setting up Murphy’s Jim, the bicycle courier who first faced the infection, for a more substantial part in the third installment. “I’m only in it for a little bit,” Murphy explained, making it clear that the focus for now lies elsewhere. Still, the hint of Jim’s return was enough to reignite long-running fan theories about how the character’s story might continue.
So far, Sony seems confident in Boyle and writer Alex Garland’s vision. The first installment, 28 Years Later, earned a solid $150.4 million globally and scored critical acclaim, including a 9/10 from IGN, which praised it as “potent and timely” in its commentary on cultural strife. The latest trailer for The Bone Temple leans heavily into mystery, showing Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson attempting to survive amid escalating chaos while hinting at discoveries that could alter the course of humanity. Returning characters appear, unresolved threads from the shocking finale of 28 Years Later resurface, and Boyle promises a mix of visceral horror and emotional gut-punches.
For long-time fans, the debate continues: should Jim’s arc be revisited at all, or was the optimistic ending of 28 Days Later the perfect conclusion? Some argue any return risks undermining that note of hope, while others are simply thrilled at the possibility of Murphy stepping back into the infected wasteland. Whether his cameo in The Bone Temple feels like a tease or a treat, it’s clear the franchise has no shortage of fuel. And if Murphy really does end up looking like a zombie cadaver, well, at least this time it’ll be intentional.