28 Years Later’s Strange Ending Is Darker Than You Thought

The 28 Days Later film series has always been deeply entrenched in British culture. One of the most iconic images of the franchise is Cillian Murphy’s Jim standing in an abandoned London. And while 28 Weeks Later showed the rage virus spreading to Paris, 28 Years Later took the virus back to the British Isles while the rest of the world continues as usual. This makes not only the story, but the outbreak itself, uniquely British.

As a result, the final twist in 28 Years Later may have seemed confusing for American viewers. Who are these tracksuit-wearing cult members, and why do they all wear blonde wigs? But underneath the wild tonal swing is a dark and sordid real-life tale that reveals just how dark our pop culture idolatry can be — and how it will be explored in the next movie.

28 Years Later is bookended by moments of wholesome British culture colliding with terror. In the opening scenes, we see a young boy watching Teletubbies in 2002 before his entire family is brutally murdered in front of him, splashing blood across the screen. Then, in the final moments, Spike (Alfie Williams), the young boy the movie is centered around, is saved from an Infected horde by a strange figure named Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), a cult-leader-esque character surrounded by more figures dressed just like him: in long blond hair and tracksuits.

This cult of “Jimmy” was teased earlier in the movie through graffiti and strange effigies, but its true meaning is far more complex. To Americans, a cult in tracksuits seems like a silly image or perhaps a reference to Heaven’s Gate, but for British viewers, it only brings to mind one thing: Jimmy Savile.

Who is Jimmy Savile?

Jimmy Savile was a beloved figure in British TV history. After a stint as a DJ, he began a long history of hosting TV shows like Top of the Pops and raising money for charity, even serving as a volunteer orderly. At the peak of his career, he hosted a Saturday morning BBC show called Jim’ll Fix It, where children could write in with a wish that Savile would grant for viewers at home to watch.

He was a larger-than-life figure known for his mop of blond hair, signature tracksuit, and his philanthropy on and off camera, which made him a cultural institution and a symbol of children’s TV. However, after he passed away in 2011, allegations from hundreds of people claimed Savile was a prolific abuser, mainly preying on children.

But in the world of 28 Years Later, pop culture was frozen in 2002, so while these atrocities very well still happened, Jimmy Savile is still regarded as a feel-good figure. This was a very purposeful choice according to director Danny Boyle, who revealed that young Jimmy is the boy we see in the opening scenes. “[Savile]'s as much to do with pop culture as he is to do with sportswear, to do with cricket, to do with the honors system,” he told Business Insider.

“The thing about looking back is how selective memory is," writer Garland added. "It cherry picks and it has amnesia, and crucially, it also misremembers. We are living in a time right now which is absolutely dominated by a misremembered past.”

What Does This Mean for The Bone Temple?

Jimmy Crystal and the cult of Jimmys don’t just serve as a rug-pull twist ending for 28 Years Later. They will be shown in more detail in the already-shot sequel, The Bone Temple. While 28 Years Later explored the nature of family in this post-apocalyptic landscape, Boyle told Inverse, the second will investigate “the nature of evil” through Jimmy Crystal’s cult.

This strange ending may be far more evil — and divisive — than American viewers realized at first, but it’s sure to be only the start of a long critique on how we project goodness on celebrities and public figures, even when they really represent true malice.

28 Years Later is now playing in theaters.