28 Years Later continues to sprint and infects three huge actors, but Cillian Murphy isn't confirmed yet

The Hollywood trades weren't lying when they reported that 28 Years Later (now a trilogy of movies instead of a single threequel) was one of the hottest packages in town. Its cast is being assembled as we speak, and it's already looking amazing.

The Alex Garland-written and Danny Boyle-directed post-apocalyptic feature has just been joined by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, and Ralph Fiennes. No word yet, however, on whether Academy Award winner Cillian Murphy, who's surely looking at plenty of potential projects at the moment, will be doing more than executive producing.

Deadline dropped the exclusive on April 24, specifically saying that the trio had boarded "the first pic," leaving their involvement in the two following movies up in the air. Earlier this month, we learned that Candyman and The Marvels' Nia DaCosta was circling the second installment (fourth in the larger saga), so she might've been involved with the casting process if the creative team is looking to establish a firm throughline.

Plot details haven't been shared yet, but the title alone suggests the threequel will present quite the time jump. The original 28 Days Later (2002) centered on a courier (played by Cillian Murphy) who discovered, after waking from a coma, the world had been overrun with 'zombies' following the outbreak of a rabies-like virus. In 2007, the sequel 28 Weeks Later, on which Boyle and Garland served solely as executive producers, didn't find as much success, but still turned a profit. The fact a third movie has taken so long to finally happen is surprising, but we're now getting three follow-ups instead of just one, so let's hope they don't run out of gas too soon.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson has rapidly become a recurring partner of Sony Pictures after starring in both Bullet Train and the yet-to-be-released Marvel-adjacent flick Kraven the Hunter, and is currently under examination by the press as a possible James Bond candidate.

As for Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes, they're both blockbuster and theatre regulars, but their careers are anything but repetitive. The former has just appeared in the Alone in the Dark reboot and will be seen later this year in the long-delayed Jeff Nichols movie The Bikeriders. Fiennes, meanwhile, remains one of the most recognizable British actors working today, and recently turned in some killer performances in The Menu and Wes Anderson's The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.