Why Aaron Taylor-Johnson Doesn’t Return In 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Clarified By Director

Warning: Mild SPOILERS lie ahead for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple!Though serving as one of the lead stars for its predecessor, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple doesn’t have Aaron Taylor-Johnson back, and director Nia DaCosta is offering an explanation for why. The Marvel Cinematic Universe alum starred in Danny Boyle’s 2025 film franchise revival as Jamie, a scavenger living on the island of Lindisfarne after having survived the Rage virus outbreak in Great Britain, along with his wife, Jodie Comer’s Isla, and son, Alfie Williams’ Spike.

Having trained Spike on ways to survive in the wilderness, Jamie became something of a complicated character as 28 Years Later progressed, as his son learns of his cheating on Isla with the village’s schoolteacher and toxically refuses to get Isla help for her degrading health. This leads to Spike taking Isla to the mainland in the hopes of getting help from Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Ian Kelson, leaving Jamie to want to go find the pair and bring them back.

Now, in an interview with ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley to discuss the sequel, Nia DaCosta opened up about why Aaron Taylor-Johnson hasn’t returned for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. The director began by clarifying “he was never in the script” for the second chapter in the trilogy, joking as she called Jamie a “son of a b—h” for having “cheated on his wife.”

DaCosta then went on to explain that the creative reasoning for Taylor-Johnson’s absence from 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is that “this story’s not about him,” instead being about Spike and “his coming-of-age [journey],” particularly his choice “to leave home“:

Nia DaCosta: This phase is about not being at home and not having the security of dad to save you. I think that’s why it was really important for it to be Spike on his own, trying to figure out how to navigate the world.

The first 28 Years Later‘s ending left Jamie in a precarious place as Spike, still processing Isla’s death by euthanasia by Dr. Kelson, left the infant born from the infected woman at his village’s gate. He also left a letter explaining his decision to stay on the mainland for some time to discover himself, with Jamie failing to follow his son as the tide has blocked the island off from the mainland once again.

Given 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple picks up almost immediately after its predecessor, there is certainly precedent for why Taylor-Johnson isn’t back in the sequel. Beyond the village’s council refusing to let anyone go in search of their loved ones in an effort to keep everyone safe, Jamie also clearly failed to track Spike down in the 28 days between when he left the baby and letter at the village and meeting Jack O’Connell’s Jimmy.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Jamie looking intensely toward the sky in 28 Years Later

More importantly, though, is DaCosta’s note that 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is more about Spike’s continuing coming-of-age story than about Jamie’s efforts to find his son. Having already faced the darkness of the infected in the first film, the sequel really finds Spike confronting the horrors of humanity with the Jimmys and their Satan-worshipping actions and whether he can keep his moral compass intact.

However, now that he’s successfully made it out from dealing with Jimmy and gotten a better appreciation for life and death, the door is open for the follow-up to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple to explore Jamie’s struggles after the first film’s ending. Taylor-Johnson previously teased to ScreenRant that his character has “lost control” in the wake of Isla’s death and Spike leaving, and with the latter about to have interactions with Cillian Murphy’s Jim, it seems possible for Spike to confront Jamie’s parenting versus Jim’s.

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Release Date

January 16, 2026

Runtime

109 Minutes

Director

Nia DaCosta