Boyle Confirms Third '28 Years Later' Is 'On the Back Burner'

Danny Boyle has confirmed the third "28 Years Later" film is "on the back burner," saying writer Alex Garland has delivered a "fantastic script" but that financing is still missing.

The director made the remarks during a wide-ranging BFI London Film Festival conversation with Puck's Matt Belloni. Boyle had seeded the trilogy's third chapter in the closing scenes of "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple," Sony's second instalment in the revived franchise.

Why is the sequel paused?

Boyle cited two obstacles. "Alex [Garland] has written a fantastic script. We just need money. But I hope it will," he said. Garland, he added, is committed to writing and directing A24's "The Elden Ring" adaptation — a project Boyle called "huge."

"So it's on the back burner at the moment," Boyle said. Variety has reached out to Sony for comment.

How did AI reshape 'Ink'?

The talk also produced new detail on Boyle's use of artificial intelligence in "Ink," his feature about Rupert Murdoch, Larry Lamb and the rise of The Sun tabloid in late-1960s England. The most visible deployment: Margaret Thatcher. An actor performed the role on set, then AI swapped Thatcher's face onto the footage.

Boyle called the move deliberate. "I wanted her to be it," he said of the late prime minister. The production shot the sequence with a performer first, then layered the Thatcher likeness over the top.

He said he had been "very careful" throughout the shoot to ensure AI "didn't place anyone" on the film — distinguishing the face-swap, which used an actor as a base, from generative likeness synthesis from scratch.

Why did Boyle skip the Thatcher estate?

Boyle confirmed he did not seek clearance from Thatcher's estate, framing the omission as artistic principle. "I declined the ask the estate for permission to do that," he said. "I don't think the estate of people like Margaret Thatcher should have control over our ability to insist on ideas in art about what her influence was on our lives. So that was really important."

The choice was accuracy-driven, he argued: he wanted no Thatcher imitator, since the prime minister's documented late-night visits to Lamb's office form a key scene. "She used to visit Larry Lamb's office late at night after the edition had gone out, and they drank whisky together. She'd take her shoes off, curled up on the sofa," Boyle recalled.

What comes next?

With Garland occupied at A24, the third chapter sits in limbo while "Ink" continues its theatrical rollout, drawing renewed scrutiny to the AI face-swap that bypassed the Thatcher estate.