28 Years Later’s Ending Would’ve Been Better as a Post-Credit Scene
Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing

28 Years Later’s Ending Would’ve Been Better as a Post-Credit Scene

28 Years Later is now playing in United States theaters. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland return to the franchise with a bold, interesting take; overall, the film is widely receiving praise from fans and critics alike.

But then there’s the issue of that final scene.

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A brief recap: Spike (Alfie Williams) has left the safe compound where he grew up in order to get his mother, Isla (Jodie Comer), some medical help. He finds Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), who informs Spike that his mother has terminal cancer. At Isla’s request, she is killed off-screen before the cancer gets to her, and Spike places her skull on top of the memorial that Kelson has created. The two then part ways, with Kelson encouraging Spike to return home.

Spike does, but only to drop off the infant baby that he and his mother “discovered” on their journey. He returns to the mainland, and the last scene sees him encounter a man calling himself Jimmy, played by Jack O’Connell. Accompanying Jimmy (who is designed to look like Jimmy Savile, something that the sequel will surely go into more) are a number of others who seem to be part of a cult and then proceed to show off some Power Ranger-like fighting skills as they kill an army of the infected.

28 Years Later’s ending has fans divided

Boyle, Garland, and Nia DaCosta (who is directing the second movie in this new trilogy, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple) clearly have a vision for where they want this franchise to go. What that entails, I don’t know. I’m not going to try to guess, either. I’m just along for the ride, and, given how much I enjoyed 28 Years Later, yeah, I’m excited for the next entry.

Having said that, people are having mixed reactions about the ending of 28 Years Later. Some of that may be due to the fact that a lot of people in the United States aren’t familiar with who Jimmy Savile is.

Others, however, are complaining that the final scene of 28 Years Later feels like a tonal shift from the rest of the film.

Making the Jimmy cult a 28 Years Later post-credit scene would have allowed the ending room to breathe

I’m a fan of the last scene because I do think it sets up some interesting new directions that The Bone Temple could go in. That said, it would have worked better as a post-credit scene, given just how different it feels from the rest of the movie. 

The third act of 28 Years Later doesn’t feature a big, scary climax; rather, the movie goes out on a much more emotional note that deals with the death of Isla (and, in a broader sense, what respect for human life in a world that’s torn itself apart with violence actually looks like). We go from dealing with those themes to immediately watching some very eccentric-looking guys do kick flips and whatnot — it’s jarring. I won’t say that it totally comes out of nowhere, but it does suddenly feel like we’re watching a completely different kind of movie at the end.

Boyle recently told Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast regarding the ending, “There’s a handover technique. Although the films are set and exist individually, as you hope they’ll be satisfying stories on their own. Within each one, there’s a handover sequence.”

If they really want these movies to “exist individually,” giving the movie some time to breathe after such a heavy emotional climax would let 28 Years Later feel like more of its own, complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. The post-credit scene could then tease what’s coming in the future. As it stands now, we have a beginning, a middle, an ending, and then another ending that’s also kind of a new beginning, but in a way that kind of undercuts the other ending.

Others may disagree and, for all we know, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will be so great that it’ll completely change all of our minds when it arrives on January 26, 2026. Until then, that last scene feels out of place and jarring to some viewers

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