Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland‘s zombie re-team 28 Years Later opens in a few weeks; there’s already a sequel on the way, and a third film will follow if the first two excite audiences. But in a new interview, Boyle shared that 2007’s Sunshine, which he made after 28 Days Later and just before his Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, could have sparked another sci-fi franchise—if only it had been a bigger hit.
Sunshine has gained a cult following across the past two decades, not least because of its cast of future Oscar winners and blockbuster breakouts: Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, Mark Strong, Hiroyuki Sanada, Troy Garity, and Benedict Wong. But its tale of an international crew sent on mission to re-ignite the dying sun—dangerous enough even without a sun-crazed saboteur wreaking havoc—failed to draw crowds at the time.
Speaking to Collider, Boyle reveals what might have been, without giving too many specifics, of course. “Originally, when we were doing it, Alex wrote two other parts. It was supposed to be a trilogy,” the director said. He clarified that Garland didn’t write two other scripts; instead, he had an outline for where the story would go.
“It was a planetary trilogy. It was to do with the sun itself, with two other stories,” Boyle teased. “What’s interesting is Alex has a natural instinct as a storyteller to want to tell these expanding stories, and that is why 28 Years Later wound up as a trilogy.”
He hinted that Sunshine‘s sequel would have featured “an extraordinary idea” on “kind of Elon Musk scale, even though he’s lost a lot of credibility. But it was interplanetary stuff, it had more to do with that … there’s no rich man in it. But the idea of looking outside and moving.”
However, he wouldn’t reveal more—out of respect to Garland, in case he ever wanted to repurpose the idea. Maybe Sunshine 2 might find life after all? Boyle’s track record of long-delayed returns to his earlier films (28 Years Later, T2 Trainspotting) may give us hope yet.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
English (US) ·