The last time we saw Erin Kellyman's Jimmy Ink, she was backflipping off the walls of Cheddar Gorge in the epic finale of Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later. This time around, in Nia DaCosta's The Bone Temple, the troubled survivor of Britain's rage-ravaged apocalypse takes center stage as the right-hand woman of Jack O'Connell's psychotic cult leader Sir Jimmy Crystal. Ahead of The Bone Temple‘s January 16 release, FANGORIA sat down with Kellyman to discuss her role in one of 2026's most anticipated horror films.
I have to know what your reaction was, upon reading the script for 28 Years Later, to finding out you were going to be part of a cult who dress as Jimmy Savile and kill zombies to Teletubby death metal?
Erin Kellyman: I just had one scene just to audition with, and I hadn't had the full script yet. I had maybe a two-page scene, everybody's called Jimmy, and I was like, “What the hell is going on?” It didn't quite occur to me that those weren't their actual names, I was just like, “That's so crazy that there's eight people here all called Jimmy.” This is why I'm not a director [laughs] because I couldn't even begin to imagine how that was going to then be put into a film. But Danny and Nia really did their big one, it was amazing.
Jimmy Ink is a fascinating character. She starts off very loyal to Jimmy Crystal, but cracks start to form as she starts to question his worldview. Can you tell us a little bit about the journey you went on and how you got into that nuanced headspace with her?
EK: Creating a backstory with Nia really helped. Trauma is such a massive part of this character, and I wanted to understand at what age that started, because I think that's important, and how much she remembered of her life before Jimmy Crystal. Nia was so down for that, and we'd come up with together that she was probably the first person to join the cult of the Jimmys at around eight maybe, that's the age that we were aiming for.
So she's never known anything different, really.
EK: Yeah. Knowing that about her changed my perception of her a little bit. I understood her, and to have been doing what she does since she was eight, I can't even… It's unthinkable. So she's just absolutely jam-packed full of trauma, and I think we just landed on that she dissociates through a lot of it, and you see in a lot of scenes, I'm glazed over.
Speaking of Jimmy Crystal, Jack O'Connell is truly frightening in this movie. What was it like being so up and close with him and that intensity all the time?
EK: I fucking loved every moment, I thought it was brilliant. He is so talented and so terrifying. Nia liked to keep rolling, and he obviously knew when she was doing that so he would just play around and improv, and I love that. I love being kept on my toes when I'm working, and he would just push it and push it and push it, obviously trying to freak me out, and it worked because he's very good at his job.
Jimmy Ink is hardcore too though, she's an absolute pro at the apocalypse. But I want to know how long you would last if the Infected took over tomorrow?
EK: Oh my god [laughs] Not long at all. Half an hour?
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple releases in theaters on January 16 via Sony Pictures. For more, make sure to grab the latest issue of FANGORIA to read our exclusive interview with director Nia DaCosta, and read our exclusive interview with stars Ralph Fiennes and Chi Lewis-Parry right here.
