Jodie Comer, Alfie Williams, & Aaron Taylor-Johnson on Forging ’28 Years Later’ Family Bonds [Interview]

Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will be released in theaters next year, but audiences can experience the titular memento mori structure this weekend in director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland‘s 28 Years Later.

To reveal more about it would venture into spoiler territory, but it’s safe to say that the Bone Temple plays a pivotal role in the coming-of-age journey undertaken by 28 Years Later protagonist Spike, played by newcomer Alfie Williams. 

A rite of passage among Spike’s small community instead opens up an epic trek through the quarantined mainland, bringing no shortage of intense, perilous encounters with the infected. The beating heart of the film, of course, is Spike and his relationship with his parents, Isla (Jodie Comer) and Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

“We see Spike mature throughout these films; he goes on a massive journey, and yeah, it changes a lot,” Williams teases what’s ahead in this planned trilogy in a chat with Bloody Disgusting.

While Spike begins the film under Dad’s watchful eye, it’s his relationship with Isla that winds up defining the film. The Bone Temple plays a crucial role. “We also didn’t see the Bone Temple until, was it, the last week of filming,” Comer says, “There was something about us shooting the end of the movie at the end of the film shoot, which was at the Bone Temple.“

That it came near the end of production gave Comer and Williams more time to bond. Williams adds, “It was nice because we could build up relationship.”

Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), Isla (Jodie Comer) and Spike (Alfie Williams) in Columbia Pictures’ 28 YEARS LATER.

Building that mother-son relationship was trickier than usual, considering Isla is a character suffering from a mysterious illness that’s left her bed-bound from the film’s outset.

“It’s very nuanced, the dynamic of that relationship,” Comer explains of fostering the relationship between Isla and Spike. “We were very lucky that we had two weeks all together, like an extensive rehearsal period where we could all get to know each other and ask Alex any questions. But I guess the hardest thing was that Spike is often having to be the parent within the relationship, so any support or comfort he’s seeking, he just isn’t able to get from his mum and he’s actually having to provide it. Whether that be, you were always having to lead me, make sure I was behind you. There was a real duty that he had as a young boy to take care of his mum. It was like the roles were totally reversed, which was foreign to both of us. That was something we were able to find early on, and both of us, with Danny’s guidance, we found a lovely image, didn’t we, of me holding the back of your bag, and Danny was like, ‘That’s It. That’s it.’ You see them across the landscape, and she’s holding onto him, so it was beautiful to find it with Alfie.”

Just as complex is Spike’s relationship with dad, Jamie, whose flaws help fuel Spike’s quest. Especially when, at least in one confrontation, seems to be grappling with rage of his own.

Taylor-Johnson explains Jamie’s very human motives, “He’s someone who very much feels like he’s in control, and in that moment he hasn’t got the tools to answer his son in an emotionally intellectual way. I think he’s in denial of his wife’s condition and feels hopeless and helpless in a way that for someone who feels like he can fix things, a fixer, and that he can’t. You don’t really know if he doesn’t know or if he does know, but he doesn’t know how to say it, really. So, then he reacts in a way that he feels awful about, I think. Responds in a way that Spike then pushes away from him. He’s flawed, but I think he’s coming from a place of trauma from this event that happened. He was a kid, a 13-year-old kid, who found this community and then found a purpose within this community, so it’s an interesting character.”

28 Years Later is now playing in theaters. The second installment in this new trilogy will release in theaters on January 16, 2026.

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