The Jimmys Weren’t Always the Plan and Why 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE Ditches the Acrobatics
When 28 Years Later wrapped up with a jaw-dropping coda full of Power Ranger-style color-coded chaos, many fans walked out talking about a lot of thing including Jack O’Connell’s acrobatic Jimmys, flipping and slicing through infected like some nightmarish punk circus. That final stretch felt wild, unhinged, and it instantly carved the Jimmys into the franchise’s mythology.
As it turns out, that moment wasn’t always part of the plan. Director Nia DaCosta, who helms the sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, recently explained that the Jimmys were actually a later addition to the first film’s script.
Speaking with GamesRadar+, DaCosta shed light on how those scene-stealing cultists evolved and why their sequel incarnation is far more disturbing and far less athletic.
Once again written by Alex Garland, The Bone Temple picks up almost immediately after the manic ending of 28 Years Later. Spike is thrown into a harrowing initiation within the Jimmys’ death cult before setting off alongside Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal and his unsettling seven fingers.
While the Jimmys play a major role this time, fans expecting more flips and airborne carnage are going to be surprised.
DaCosta explained how the group’s prominence shifted late in the first movie’s development. “[The Jimmys] are mostly in my film. They weren't in the first script as much, actually, in the first draft, and then they were built in a bit more for that last scene.”
She also recalled some amusing early conversations with Danny Boyle during casting. “But it was funny because Danny [Boyle] and I would be like casting, and he'd be like, 'Oh, I want people who are really physical, like backflips.'
“And I was like, 'Why?!' I knew I wasn't going to be needing any of that [in The Bone Temple]. And then I saw it and said, 'Oh my gosh, I love it.'”
Even though several familiar faces return, including Spike played by Alfie Williams, Dr. Kelson portrayed by Ralph Fiennes, and Alpha Samson brought to life by Chi Lewis-Parry, the sequel shifts its focus in a big way. The Jimmys aren’t just spectacle anymore. They sit at the core of a darker, more stripped-down story that leans into fear and belief rather than grief and survival.
“The two scripts were quite different and had different characters,” DaCosta explained. “So I felt like there was a lot of liberty, actually, to make something that felt unique. The first thing I said when I met with the producers, including Danny and Alex, was: 'I love this, but if you're looking for like a Danny Boyle-ish film, I'm not the right person; I don't know how to do that.
“He's an idiosyncratic genius, and I'm not Danny Boyle. But here's what I see and here's what I'd like to do, and if that's what you're into, then great.' And then they were into it, and so really I had the freedom to make the movie as I saw it.”
That creative freedom also meant leaving certain fan-favorite flourishes behind. After seeing the Jimmys bounce and corkscrew across the screen in Boyle’s finale, it’s fair to wonder if DaCosta ever considered carrying that energy into her film. She shut that idea down fast.
“Absolutely not. No, no, no,” DaCosta said with a laugh. “There's no slow-mo backflips to metal music.”
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple hits US theaters on January 15. It was a great film that I enjoyed. With its sharper focus, scarier tone, and a very different take on the Jimmys, the sequel is ready to take the franchise somewhere unexpected.