Ralph Fiennes has teased his Dr. Kelson “hasn’t gone mad” in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
Ralph Fiennes has teased his Dr. Kelson ‘hasn’t gone mad’ in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
The 63-year-old actor is set to return as the enigmatic doctor in the upcoming sequel to the 2025 horror flick 28 Years Later, and Fiennes has now reflected on his character and the role he plays in the apocalypse.
Speaking with Bloody Disgusting, Fiennes said of Dr. Kelson: “I think he’s written as empathetic, he’s essentially a man who’s, he’s a doctor, he cares. He has no agenda.
“He’s got this task of honouring the dead. I think he’s a combination, isn’t he, of sort of doctor and a mortician, and I think he must have unusual psychological stamina, that within the small amount of possessions he’s retained, books and records, he’s been able to keep some rationale alive.
“He hasn’t gone mad. Some people would’ve gone violent, or gone mad, or committed suicide, he’s got some strong interior.”
The Harry Potter star added Kelson’s connection with the infected Alpha dubbed Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) would be explored further in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
Fiennes explained: “I think his project gives him meaning, gives life meaning for him, and he recognises he might die, but he’s unusual. He’s something of a medieval figure who survives in a sort of landscape of plague.
“They’re odd, I think they’re odd, he’s almost a sort of priest-like as well. Yeah. I can only think he’s held on to something.
“There are people, I think, with extraordinary psychological stamina, who will hold on, and keep by reading and listening to music, and just keep connected to a sense of the rational.”
As for Samson himself, Lewis-Parry teased the infected Alpha might have found a way to “survive beyond what he is” through Kelson.
The 42-year-old actor said: “I believe that Samson is seeking help; he doesn’t want to be what he is anymore. He sees that opportunity in Kelson and Kelson’s kindness.
“Kelson hasn’t given up on himself, and he’s been able to survive this long and maintain a level of intellectual competence with the reading and the music, but Samson is seeing an opportunity to survive beyond what he is, which is a grotesque monster.”
Directed by Nia DaCosta, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple picks up soon after the events of 28 Years Later, and follows Spike (Alfie Williams) as he is absorbed into Jimmy Crystal’s (Jack O’Connell) gang on the British mainland, only to discover the infected are not the most terrifying threat against his reality.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kelson (Fiennes) makes a shocking discovery that could shape the future of the world.
The film – which releases on January 14, 2026 in the UK and January 16 in the U.S. – will also star Erin Kellyman as Jimmy Ink, Emma Laird as Jimmima, Maura Bird as Jimmy Jones and Cillian Murphy as Jim in what will be the actor’s first on-screen role in creator Alex Garland and Danny Boyle’s horror series since the original 28 Days Later in 2002.