28 Years Later: The Bone Temple features a huge change for the Rage virus, and Chi Lewis-Parry explained Samson’s transformation in the sequel when speaking to Dexerto. Major spoilers ahead!
Candyman director Nia DaCosta picks up the reins from Danny Boyle for the sequel, and it’s a seamless transition between the two movies as our review called it “one of the best horror movies of the last decade.” 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple follows two key storylines, one with Spike (Alfie Williams) as he’s forced into becoming one of the Jimmy gang led by Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), a charismatic cult leader with a taste for extreme violence and torture.
The second revolves around Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) while he experiments with the nature of the Rage virus, using an infected Alpha called Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) as his test subject. Remember, Alphas are one of the infected variants that are stronger and more difficult to kill, as seen in the first film.
But the third act of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple delivers a stunning twist — as Kelson discovers there is a way to bring an infected person back to their conscious self. When speaking to Dexerto before the film’s release, Chi Lewis-Parry explained Samson’s new direction in the sequel and recalled filming the exhausting train fight with a horde of the infected.
Samson becomes a “Sigma” after Kelson experiments on him in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Samson becomes a “Sigma” because of Kelson’s experiments in The Bone Temple, says Chi Lewis-Parry. In the previous film, the former-doctor tells Spike that he stops Samson using morphine and Xylazine to tranquilize him. In this film, he adds other drugs into the mix which seemingly quietens the Rage virus, and Samson starts to show repeated behavior patterns — like returning to Kelson for more medication.
“Samson sort of becomes more of a sigma than an Alpha… He’s sort of looking for guidance from Kelson, but he’s still got that animal in him. He’s very much like ‘I’m here and you’ll do nothing because I’m the Alpha,’” Lewis Parry explained.
It’s not necessarily a cure in the traditional sense, but after some time he’s able to remain in control of his actions — and even starts speaking minimally, but this doesn’t go unnoticed. “He is on his own journey and I think the infected can just sense that,” the star added.
The other infected recognize that Samson’s behavior has changed, as he starts returning to a familiar location: the derailed train. He becomes lucid for a moment when sat in the ruins as he remembers being on the train as young boy when the outbreak started.
In a heartstopping moment, Samson replies to the ticket inspector in his memories, telling her “I don’t have a ticket.” But as he speaks it out loud in the present day, the infected pounce.
“It’s like animals, they know when one has been sort of outcast or one is no longer welcome, they just know something’s wrong. Samson was eliciting types of behaviour that weren’t common to the infected and they could sense that. Him travelling back to a familiar place inspired their pursuit of him.”
Chi Lewis-Parry “had to be carried” off set after filming the train fight in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
After the infected jump on Samson, it becomes an all-out brawl as he fights off a crowd of them in the enclosed carriage. The hulking Alpha/Sigma uses his strength to throw one of them out of the window while beating others to death in a brutal fight to the death.
It ends with Samson emerging victorious from the train at night, drenched in blood. Filming the fight was exhausting for Lewis-Parry, and the crew spent an entire day on capturing the chaos. “We shot that whole train scene in a day, it was from morning all the way to the ‘hero’ shot at nighttime. It was the whole day,” he explained.
“I’d said, ‘OK, if we’re going to fit this into one day, I’ll let you know that I’m going to give you everything I’ve got. If you change your mind and say we’re doing stuff tomorrow, you cannot expect me tomorrow. I had to be carried out of there, I couldn’t walk. I was busted, man, like I was really battered and was limping my way out of that train.”
But despite the “beautiful, excruciatingly tough” day of filming, the star said it was obvious that “we’d done something special.”
Samson could still return in 28 Years Later 3
By the end of the film, Jimmy Crystal stabs Kelson — and the doctor dies at the bone temple, but not before Samson arrives to thank the doctor for helping him. It’s not clear if Samson is 100% cured of the virus, but he at least has his sanity back. It’s possible that he’s now a carrier for the virus, a little like Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) in 28 Weeks Later.
After this, Samson wanders off into the wilderness with an uncertain future. It’s not clear whether he’ll be back for the currently-untitled 28 Years Later 3, but Lewis-Parry believes that Samson’s story is not over.
“Trust me, I want to read that script! But Samson’s still out there in my mind, so… This is the movie world, you can blow someone up 20,000 times and they’ll come back in part nine, you know?” He continued, “Anything can happen. I would like to think he is still out there and would make an appearance. But I would just leave it as it is right now and let the 28 years gods call upon me when they see fit!”
Obviously, The Bone Temple ends with Cillian Murphy’s return as Jim from the original movie as he heads out to save Spike and Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman) with his daughter. It’ll be interesting to see whether Jim learns about Samson’s transformation, and whether or not that information will help rebuild post-apocalyptic Britain…
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