28 Years Later ending explained: what happens to Spike in the zombie movie?

The 28 Years Later ending certainly had me taken aback, as there’s a lot going on emotionally and narratively in the final 10 minutes or so of the movie. So if you were a little confused over all that occurred and what exactly happened with Spike (Alfie Williams), let me help break it all down for you.

Now obviously I’m going to be getting into SPOILERS, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet probably best to figure out when and how you watch 28 Years Later, then come back if you need anything cleared up.

While the titles don’t exactly sync up, 2025 new movie 28 Years Later is the continuation of 2002’s 28 Days Later, one of the most acclaimed zombie movies of all time from Danny Boyle and Alex Garland. However, 28 Years Later features all new characters (Cillian Murphy is nowhere to be found, yet). Specifically, the movie focuses on a family — the 12-year-old Spike, his dad Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his mom Isla (Jodie Comer) — living on an island of survivors that are protected from the infected on the mainland by a causeway that is only accessible a few times a day.

It’s been nearly three decades since the outbreak of the rage virus and this island has its rules that help them maintain their society — if you go out into the mainland you can come back whenever (as long as you’re not infected), but no rescue party is coming to look for you. They also have their own traditions, including a rite of passage where teens go out to the mainland for the first time. That’s the case for Spike, as he prepares for his first trip with Jamie. Isla isn’t a fan of this idea, but as she is bedridden with an unknown illness, there’s little she can do to stop it.

Their trip on the mainland sees Spike get his first kill, run into an “alpha” (a jacked up infected that is very difficult to kill), see a fire in the distance that Jamie is cagey about and just make it back to the island safely after being tracked by the alpha.

Spike becomes conflicted about everything that happened when Jamie exaggerates his accomplishments on the mainland and ends up sleeping with another woman on the island. Spike returns home, where a family friend tells him that the fire Spike saw in the distance was made by a doctor.

After Spike confronts his dad about everything he saw and gets him to admit what he knows about the doctor, Spike decides to take Isla to the mainland himself to see if the doctor can treat what ails her.

Spike and Isla’s journey to Dr. Kelson

Spike creates a distraction to allow him and Isla to get onto the mainland without the leaders of the island’s permission, and from there they set out on their journey.

Isla has fits where she is confused, sometimes referring to Spike as her dad. But she is still able to help when they get into trouble — killing an infected in the night that was about to bite a sleeping Spike.

They get additional assistance from a Swedish soldier, Erik (Edvin Ryding), who was on a quarantine boat (the UK is under heavy quarantine to keep the infected from spreading) that crashed on the island.

As they get close to where Spike believes the doctor to be, they hear an odd noise coming from an abandoned train. Isla investigates and finds an infected woman who is giving birth. Isla is able to calm her and helps deliver the baby — a girl who is actually not infected. However, Erik gets spooked and shoots the infected woman, which brings an alpha. The alpha grabs Erik and kills him, ripping his head from his body.

Spike and Isla, still carrying the baby, run. The alpha chases and is about to catch them when the doctor they’ve been looking for, Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) appears, shooting the alpha with a tranquilizer dart that stops him in its tracks (though notably doesn’t kill him). Dr. Kelson then welcomes Spike and Isla to come with him to where he resides.

What is wrong with Isla?

Dr. Kelson brings Spike and Isla to his memorial for the dead — towers made of bones that he has taken from infected and non-infected alike, describing it as “memento mori,” a reminder that we all die.

Dr. Kelson eventually examines Isla and determines that she is suffering from cancer, which is affecting her brain (why she has her odd episodes). In these circumstances, there is nothing he can do to treat Isla, estimating that she does not have long to live. Spike refuses to accept this, holding tight to his mother. But Isla gives a signal to Dr. Kelson, who tranquilizes Spike so that he can give Isla the peaceful death she deserves.

When Spike wakes, Dr. Kelson has prepared Isla’s skull to be added to his memorial. Spike takes it to the very top, placing Isla’s skull as the sun rises.

What happens to Spike?

Because they did not kill the alpha that was chasing them, he comes after Spike and Dr. Kelson. They are able to knock him out again, and Dr. Kelson tells Spike it's time for him to go home, and to bring the baby with him.

However, Spike has other ideas. He does return to drop the baby off at the island, but he does not stay. He leaves a note for Jamie saying he needs to be on his own on the mainland for a while to get a better understanding of himself, but he hopes that Jamie will look after the baby, which he has named Isla.

While resting on the mainland, Spike spots an infected in the distance. Showing his growth, he calmly gathers himself and kills it. But as more come he runs. Eventually he runs into a dead end, seemingly trapped with multiple infected getting closer

That’s when Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack Reynor) appears with his group of survivors decked out in track suits that save Spike with acrobatic maneuvers to kill the infected. Once all the infected are dead, Jimmy welcomes Spike to come and see where they’ve come from.

Who is Sir Jimmy Crystal?

While his arrival is a bit jarring, the 28 Years Later ending is not the first time we see Jimmy Crystal in the movie. He is in fact the same boy that is shown in the opening sequence that takes place at the beginning of the outbreak in the early 2000s; this is clear by the gold cross that Jimmy’s father gave him before he was bitten by the infected.

The last we see of the young Jimmy (Rocco Haynes) he is running from the infected. However, apparently in the 28 years since the beginning of the movie and the ending, Jimmy Crystal has built some kind of following or power.

We can expect to see more of that in the already set sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Tower, which is scheduled to release January 16, 2026. Hopefully that will answer some of the questions that are raised by the 28 Years Later ending — like where did Jimmy get those track suits in the apocalypse and their unique fighting style?

28 Years Later is now playing exclusively in movie theaters.