28 Years Later spoilers ahead, especially the movie's ending.

After almost 20 years since the last installment in the franchise trilogy, 28 Years Later is finally released to horror fans' delight. However, the movie's controversial ending has baffled some viewers, leaving them scratching their heads in wonderment about what it's actually about. Thankfully, director Danny Boyle has shed some light on 28 Years Later's weird final scene that saw a clan of tracksuit wearing "Jimmies" performing Power Ranger combat moves.

Alex Garland and Danny Boyle team up once more to bring their terrifying, bloodthirsty infected into the world of 28 Years Later, and this time, the star-studded cast features talented actors like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer and newcomer Alfie Williams. Although the movie still has the usual array of savage humans infected with the horrific Rage Virus, 28 Years Later has changed the formula by introducing a new variant called the Alphas, who are souped-up versions, and infected who can give birth, as well as plump infected, that crawl around the ground slowly as they feast on worms. Now, for those who have already tucked into the movie in theaters, some have been left utterly bewildered by what its cliffhanger ending meant by featuring a weird Jimmy Savile cult, as some call the scene "ridiculous".

28 years later - rotten tomatoes (2100 x 1050 px)

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By Catherine Armecin Martin

28 Years Later Fans Are Left Confused Over Its Strange Cliffhanger

After a host of traumatizing events, which included bumping into Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) and his skull-washing endeavors and unique morphine-coated blow-darting skills, Spike has ventured off on his own throughout the mainland but soon realizes that he is being watched when a group of blonde-haired people offer a helping hand when a horde infected with the Rage Virus threatens to become too much for the young boy. The leader of this very strange-looking cult is a man named Jimmy Crystal, played by Jack O'Connell, who viewers saw as a kid at the very start of the film. After the group kicked infected butt by using kung-fu fighting skills that look like it was inspired by the 90s classic Power Rangers, it soon became clear that they took their fashion inspiration from the disgraced English media personality and DJ Jimmy Savile, by wearing tracksuits, blonde wigs and gold jewelry.

For context, Savile was one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders, whose sickening actions were only uncovered after he died in 2011. Throughout his long tenure, Savile was a TV presenter who made children’s dreams come true with his Jim'll Fix It show, while also raising millions for charity, giving him unlimited and unchecked access to abuse children and vulnerable older people for years through the guise of a "good man." In a recent interview with the Independent, director Boyle said: “The role of Jack O’Connell’s character and his family, which is a replacement, really, for the family he loses at the beginning of the film, is to reintroduce evil into what has become a compassionate environment." In 28 Years Later's universe, Savile's crimes weren't revealed yet as its survivors are still trapped in the early 2000s due to being cut off from the rest of the world. So it seems as though Jimmy has taken elements of pop culture from that time as a possible trauma response, turning him into a strange religious leader after witnessing the terrible feat of his priest father in the church at the beginning of the film, who was meant to protect him.

"I asked Alex [Garland] right at the beginning to just tell me what’s the nature of each of the films, and he said that the nature of the first film is about family. The second film is about the nature of evil. And you’re about to meet a lot more of them when it’ll be more appropriate to talk about them in the second film.”

However, in a Reddit post, some fans have deemed 28 Years Later's ending as "ridiculous," stating that the controversial scene "ruined" the film for them. "Kills the tone completely, doesn’t fit what is supposed to be a gritty franchise IMO," expressed one annoyed viewer in the comments section of the post, while another stated, "they're all literally dressed like the child molester Jimmy Savile, which makes this even more ridiculous." Probably the most confused fans were those outside of the UK who hadn't even heard of Savile before, making 28 Days Later's ending even more puzzling. "Most Americans don't know who Jimmy Savile was, so the ending was just completely baffling to the audience I saw it with," said one stumped fan.

Thankfully, Boyle has promised that more of this "Jimmy Savile" group will be explored in its upcoming sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, in which Jimmy will be a main character and rumored to be involved in a plot surrounding selective memory. The Bone Temple is slated to hit screens in January 2026.