The 28 Years Later Trailer's Nastiest Rage Zombie Has Already Ignited A Bonkers Fan Theory

22 years later, the second sequel in the "28 Days Later" franchise, "28 Years Later," is extremely effing nigh. Fans of the sprinting, bloodthirsty, Rage-virus-riddled human beings — for the sake of clarity here, we'll begrudgingly call them zombies — introduced to us by director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland have been wildly speculating for months as to how this new sequel will link up to the first film, and now their theories have actual, tangible backing. The official "28 Years Later" trailer is here!

Sony isn't about to give away the game pre-release, but this eerily effective preview, scored to a Rudyard Kipling poem used in Navy SEAL training, has already spawned one extraordinarily wild bit of conjecture. Before we dig in, though, let's do a quick recap of what we know for certain about "28 Years Later."

Judging from the trailer, Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson are starring as a pair of survivors living in a seaside community somewhere in the British Isles. The Rage virus is, evidently, still spreading throughout the country, and it looks like Comer's tasked with making sure these nasty creatures don't sink their teeth into a bunch of little kids (who seem to love "Teletubbies").

While watching the trailer, you can't help but look for the numerous A-list cast members whom we know are in the movie. Obviously, we get a good, long glimpse at Comer and Taylor-Johnson, while Ralph Fiennes shows up as well. But where, oh where, is this year's Best Actor winner Cillian Murphy, who played the survivor Jim in "28 Days Later?" Nowhere to be seen as of yet, apparently. Or maybe he is in there, just not as fans expected to see him. What could this possibly mean? Oh buddy, have we got a zany theory for you!

Cue up, if you will, the "28 Years Later" trailer on YouTube, and hop forward to the one-minute-and-48-second mark. Hit pause (or just see the image above). Does that desiccated zombie rising in the distance remind you of anyone? Your Uncle Pete, okay, but let's limit this to people in the movie. Could that be — ???

Let's reason this out. We've seen leaked photos of Murphy on the "28 Years Later" set where he looks like his normal, mesmerizingly beautiful self. But what if that's a ruse? What if Murphy, whose name does not appear in the film's poster, is actually a zombie this time out? It would be one heck of a twist, but if Boyle and Garland (who are also behind this movie) are willing to pull something that wild, why would they spoil it in a trailer a half-year out from the film's release? Because once you admit that the zombie has the rough likeness of Murphy, it's all you can see.

Is there any evidence pointing to the contrary, i.e. that Murphy is not a zombie in "28 Years Later?" The best we can do is that bit of graffiti at the 52-second mark of the trailer, which reads, "Behold, Jimmy he is coming with the clouds." That doesn't prove anything, though, and also could be referring to a boy named Jimmy whom Comer calls out to at the start of the trailer.

The odds seem stacked against the zombie in question being Murphy, if only because that looks like an animatic. Why cast a heavy-hitter like the star of "Oppenheimer" if you're simply going to double him for a chunk of the film? Or maybe it is him and it's part of a dream sequence. Nobody really knows for sure right now. We're all looking for Gabbo here.

Either way, the fate of Cillian Murphy's Jim will eventually come to light when "28 Years Later" storms into theaters on June 20, 2025.