Jeremy Renner has been hired in the lead role of the horror/thriller, 28 Weeks Later for Fox Atomic.

The film is the sequel to the zombie thriller 28 Days Later, and picks up six months after the end of that first pic, in which a virus spreads, leaving few survivors. Variety adds Special Forces is working to restore order and helping repopulate London when a carrier of the virus unknowingly ignites a reinfection. Renner will play Sgt. Doyle, one of the heroes of the sequel.

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is directing Rowan Joffe script. Danny Boyle, who directed the first film, will serve as executive producer on 28 Weeks Later.