28 Days Later writer Alex Garland explains why he sat out sequel before making series return

’28 Days Later’ writer Alex Garland left the franchise because he "couldn’t be in a cynical mindset" to make the sequel ’28 Weeks Later’.

The 54-year-old scribe had worked with director Danny Boyle on the 2002 horror flick before both exited the series, allowing Juan Carlos Fresnadillo to step in and helm the 2007 follow-up.

Now, Garland and Boyle have returned to the franchise with the upcoming ’28 Years Later’, and the writer has explained there were "various reasons" why both he and the 68-year-old filmmaker couldn’t have made a direct sequel to their 2002 flick.

The ‘Warfare’ director told The Playlist: "It was this. ’28 Days Later’ was a very uncynical film. It had a punk sensibility. And in order to make a follow-up to it, you couldn’t be in a cynical mindset.

"There’s various reasons why that wouldn’t have worked. And enough time had passed [with us]. There was a key idea that felt tonally correct to what we did 20-something years ago."

’28 Years Later’ will follow Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Isla (Jodie Comer) as they leave their tight-knit island community after their 12-year-old son Spike (Alfie Williams) embarks on a coming-of-age journey beyond the safety of the island, forcing the family to come face-to-face with the Rage Virus.

The movie - which hits screens in June - will mark the beginning of the series’ first trilogy, with the second entry ’28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple’ slated to hit cinemas next year.

While Garland confirmed he had written the scripts for ’28 Years Later’ and ‘The Bone Temple’, he did not reveal if he would also work on the upcoming third film.

The writer previously explained it felt like the "natural form" of ’28 Years Later’ was a trilogy.

Speaking to Empire magazine, he said: "This is very narratively ambitious. Danny and I understood that.

"We tried to condense it, but its natural form felt like a trilogy."

Boyle added the ’28 Years Later’ films would be a "wholly different approach" to what had been seen with ’28 Days Later’ and its sequel ’28 Weeks Later’.

The director teased: "It was about what that 28 years gives you."

While ’28 Years Later’ will mark a new era for the horror series, producer Andrew Macdonald confirmed Cillian Murphy - who starred as protagonist Jim in ’28 Days Later’ - wouldn’t be in the movie, but would serve as executive producer.

Macdonald said: "We wanted [Murphy] to be involved and he wanted to be involved. He is not in the first film, but I’m hoping there will be some Jim somewhere along the line.

"He’s involved at the moment as an executive producer, and I would hope we can work with him in some way in the future in the trilogy."

Recently, Boyle urged film fans to head to cinemas to "support the apocalypse", as the completion of the ’28 Years Later’ trilogy hinged on how well the first two movies fared at the box office.

Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, he said: "We've finished the first film, we've shot the second, however, we don't have finance for the third yet.

"[Sony Pictures Chairman/CEO Tom Rothman] seems like a nice guy, but he hasn't given us the finance for the third, and that's where [exhibition] comes in.

"So please, do us proud in your cinemas on June the 20th and support the continuing apocalypse."