Sunshine was meant to be the start of a trilogy, but Danny Boyle says the poor box office killed those plans

Sunshine, Danny Boyle’s atmospheric sci-fi thriller, followed a team of astronauts on a perilous mission to reignite the dying Sun. Though it earned solid reviews when it hit theaters in 2007, the film flamed out at the box office. Boyle recently told Collider that its failure killed any chance of a planned Sunshine trilogy. Wait, what?

“So, originally, when we were doing it, Alex [Garland] wrote two other parts. It was supposed to be a trilogy,” Boyle said. “It was a planetary trilogy. It was to do with the sun itself, with two other stories. What’s interesting is Alex has a natural instinct as a storyteller to want to tell these expanding stories, and that is why 28 Years Later wound up as a trilogy.“

Boyle added that Garland only wrote an outline of the sequels, but he can’t remember it in enough detail. Although he did tease that “there was an extraordinary idea in one of them,” but declined to share it as Garland may still use it in a future project.

While Boyle and Garland never got to finish their planned Sunshine trilogy, 28 Years Later could allow them to see a trilogy through. The first installment will hit theaters in two weeks, with the sequel following early next year. They don’t have financing for the third installment yet, but the studio will likely give them the green light if the first film proves to be a success. Plus, Cillian Murphy is expected to have a more featured role in the third movie.

The official synopsis for 28 Years Later: “It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.” The film will hit theaters on June 20, with the sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, slated for a January 16, 2026 release.

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