Samson’s New Look In 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Explained

The terrifying Samson is back for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, but is coming with a very different look, thanks to director Nia DaCosta. Introduced in Danny Boyle’s 2025 film that revived the horror franchise, Chi Lewis-Parry’s Infected served as a recurring antagonist for the characters, being one of the evolved Alpha members who stalks Jodie Comer’s Isla and Alfie Williams’ Spike through the countryside, while also having various interactions with Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Ian Kelson.

Lewis-Parry returns as Samson for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which picks up shortly after the events of its predecessor, in which Spike becomes further entrenched with Jack O’Connell’s Jimmy and his group. All the while, Kelson continues building the titular structure, which is frequently visited by Samson, leading to Fiennes’ character to question the possibility of a cure for the Rage Virus.

Now, in an interview with ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley ahead of the film’s release, Nia DaCosta shared some insight about Samson’s return for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. When asked about his look, and how it’s changed from the 2025 installment, the director explained that his progression was partly down to the movie’s script, but also that she “got to do whatever I wanted with him in my movie.”

One of the main things that she and franchise head, Danny Boyle, also agreed on was that “we have different tastes as directors,” shooting their films in very different stylings from one another, which would have made Samson’s original design “not look as good” if it was tailored to DaCosta’s style and “visual language.” From there, the filmmaker took to making tweaks in everything from his appearance to the way Lewis-Parry played him:

Nia DaCosta: The prosthetics change, the makeup changes, his physicality changes and performance. That was something we built in prep. That character was so important to me, and you have to thread the needle so carefully with him. I was really given free rein with Samson in the film.

In the first 28 Years Later, Samson was a very imposing force for the non-infected to reckon with, though one of the more notable elements of his design was being completely nude, as they rotted away over the years. He also looked to have had various patches of dead skin all around his body, while his face was largely hidden by a mane of unkempt hair and beard, with the most visibile parts being his red irises and rotting teeth.

Between the images released for the film and its trailers, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple has already alluded to big changes for Samson, both in his design and arc. From actually wearing some kind of cloth around his waist to his face being far more visible, and eyes more pronounced, DaCosta’s changes to Lewis-Parry has certainly given the character a much different feel for the new installment.

This is all the more important given Samson looks to be the potential catalyst for a Rage virus cure in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. One thing that the franchise hadn’t seemingly considered prior to the upcoming sequel is such a cure, as the sheer intensity and contagious nature of the virus made eradication the emphasis instead. However, if Samson does indeed lead to a way to rid the world of the Rage virus, it could set up the planned 28 Years Later trilogy ender to also serve as a final chapter for the franchise as a whole.