Cillian Murphy will return for the third part of the movie “28 Days Later”

It’s official: after months of rumors, sony confirmed that Cillian Murphy will return to 28 Years Laterthe long-awaited sequel to 28 Days Later (Extermination in Latin America) and 28 Weeks Later after Danny Boyle.

While we already knew that Murphy would return as an executive producer, Deadline’s new interview with the president of Sony Motion Pictures Group, Tom Rothmanconfirmed today that the Oscar-winning actor will also return in an acting role.

When asked if Murphy would return for 28 years laterwhich we already know is the first in a new Sony trilogy, Rothman joked:

“Yes, but in a surprising and growing way, let me put it this way. This is Danny [Boyle] at its best, combined with a very commercial genre, like the one we had with Edgar Wright and Baby Driver. Sometimes when you put a real director in a commercial realm, he elevates it.”

Presumably, that means we’ll see Murphy back in the role of bike messenger Jim, one of the only survivors of the apocalypse-inducing ‘Rage’ virus seen in the first two films.

While it’s entirely possible we’ll see poor Jim succumb to the virus, Rothman’s use of “grows” here could be a hint that Jim will stick around for the entire three-film story.

Interestingly, Rothman says: “It’s 28 years later, but it’s by no means a literal sequel” and, given the team behind the camera, we always expected this trilogy to take a different direction than the standard sequel.

Who stars in 28 Years later

In 28 Years Later, Murphy joins Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connellwith Boyle directing from a script by Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Civil War, 28 Days Later).

Nia DaCosta Candyman is chosen to take charge of the second installment, with no news yet about the third. Boyle and Garland also produce, as do original producers Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice. Bernie Bellew also produces.