28 years later’s Wild Ending sets up the most controversial horror villain ever

Warning: This article contains Big spoilers for “28 years later.” Read on your own risk.

At the end of The scary, awful and emotional “28 years later,” Director Danny Boyle stops trying to get your heart to burst through the chest and sets us up for a case of cinematic whiplash. In the final moment of the film, blood -driving calls the air when Spike (Alfie Williams) sprints down a mountain side, just to reach a dead end with a group of the furious infected closure in. When all hope seems to be lost, you suddenly help in the form of a grinning, perfectly fresh stranger, played by “Sinners” villain, Jack O’Connell. He and a team dressed in similar clothes descends on the frantic mob and send them quickly with impressive gymnastics and fighting skills. It is only when the dust sits down and the infected people are taken out that it becomes obvious to many British -based audience members that the company Young Spike has been in, and he has to get as far away from them as possible.

In a bizarre and unpleasant way, it quickly becomes clear that this bunch of heroes are modeled after one of the most notorious and terrible figures in British culture, which can lead to another type of fear and cross -border for some British -based film guests. For Boyle and author Alex Garland, however, they know exactly what they do: pressing a nerve as a local audience would prefer that they do not. This wandering stranger is called Sir Jimmy Crystal, whose name and appearance are in line with the now haunting fashion by Jimmy Savile, one of Britain’s most predators, serial sex offenders.

When I spoke like someone from the “mainland” sitting in a London showing at night for their world premiere, I can confirm that there was a collective moment when Öre lost exactly what was on the screen, and who it was Jack O’Connell would pay a bleak tribute to. At this point, we had seen a furious victim food and a boy gently placed his mother’s skull on a pile with others, but saw someone dressed as Jimmy Savile beat them all, given the huge controversy and horror around this well -known addict, who were never accused of their crimes.

A popular radio -DJ in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as a child’s TV show host who was a knight for his charity work, Saville died in 2011 at the age of 85. But the year that followed led to one of the darkest chapters in British television and the nation as a whole when a scandal seized the country and over 450 sexual attack led to the media persons, the fluid against 5 and 75. During these surveys, the BBC was placed under review, after supporting Savile for most of his career and questioning the channel’s knowledge of his activities.

Referring to such a disgusting individual is a scrubbing direction to take, especially towards a post-apocalyptic environment. So, what does any of this have to do with “28 years later”, and what could the impact be for the franchise in the future?

“28 years later” starts with Boyle and Garland release us back to this nightmare world Through Teletubbies. Children play on a worn VHS and look at the discovery of Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and PO as an invasion of infected sweeps through their home, just outside their living room door. It is one of the many small details that illustrate exactly where society in the UK collapsed when the virus broke out. The first film was released in 2002, which, if we mix our timeline with Boyle’s Zombie Universe, is a whole decade before Savile was exposed. This also serves as our first introduction to Jimmy as a child, who grows up with a oblique perspective, including who he chooses to see as a hero.

Without contact with the outside world, and perhaps only videotapes from a bygone era to reference, it makes sense in this catastrophic and unpleasant world that a reputation for a child’s TV host and charity worker remains intact. Now, with such a crucial moment in Britain’s history that never occurred, Savile can instead be idolized in this miserable future that the survival of the infection has been in. What is suitable for playing. Creating a new breed of terror is one thing, but base it on a real monster that is still a very sensitive topic is something completely different.

While O’Connell’s Jimmy is the most prominent member of the gang who comes to Spike’s help, the credits list a band that all parts of variations with the same name. “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” star, Erin Kellyman is listed Imdb Like Jimmy Ink, Robert Rhodes as Jimmy Jimmy and Emma Laird from “Mayor of Kingstown” fame is credited as Jimmima. With all these names and matching clothes, Alex Garland seems to have created his own band of Droogs similar to the gang led by Malcolm Macdowell’s Alex in “A Clockwork Orange” (A movie that was banned as a “video nasty” in the UK and could not be seen in 25 years) And got stuck in this zombie infected the universe. It feels like a nightmare cocktail of British nostalgia that is intentionally difficult to swallow, but one that O’Connell seems anxious to eject in the inevitable sequel of the film.

In an interview with GQ Earlier this year, the “Sinners” star took a moment to suggest what we can expect for his character when he shows up in the nine Dacosta -directed sequel, “28 years later: The Bone Temple.” “Yes, Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, Full Moniker. He’s a … He’s a gas c ** t,” the actor explained. “I don’t really know how to describe him yet. But exciting to present, it is safe. He is definitely in the darker pocket, certainly as opposed to everything I have ever played before.”

We’ll see how dark things become when “28 years later: The Bone Temple” opens its doors for theaters on January 16, 2026.