Chi Lewis-Parry is cast for his size, but his Samson is worth watching for the small movements. He makes a convincing threat, then finds something affecting in the simple business of listening to Ralph Fiennes.
Fi1m perspective
Under Samson’s prosthetics, Chi Lewis-Parry tilts his head and listens to Ralph Fiennes. In 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026), that small adjustment makes an infected alpha seem curious about another person. Fiennes’s Dr Kelson has found company, and Lewis-Parry makes that company matter without needing a speech. We were moved by the attention he gives Fiennes, because the listening makes Samson seem capable of something besides hurting people. Nia DaCosta gives him room to do more than frighten us.
The earlier work is dominated by small physical roles, including warriors, bodyguards and bouncers. Gladiator II (2024), in which he plays Phoebus, belongs to that period before Samson brought him wider notice. 28 Years Later (2025), directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland, initially makes familiar use of his size. Samson is the largest of the infected alphas, and Lewis-Parry is a convincing reason to keep well away from them.
The sequel makes the more useful discovery about him. Opposite Fiennes, he can sustain a scene by paying attention rather than competing for it. The prosthetics could leave us watching the make-up; the head movements give us a character to watch instead. That is the stronger half of DaCosta’s film, which grows loud and less interesting when it turns to Jack O’Connell’s cult of tracksuited Jimmys. Our preference for the Kelson scenes owes something to the relief of being allowed to notice a performance this quiet.
The two Samson films still give us a narrow basis on which to judge Lewis-Parry beyond this particular character. The small parts elsewhere offer limited evidence of what he could do with substantial dialogue, and there is no need to pretend otherwise. For now, the reason to follow him from Boyle’s film to DaCosta’s is to see how much more he can make us notice beneath the same prosthetics. We would like to see him given a substantial scene without the latex.
Biography
Chi Lewis-Parry, also credited as Chopper, is a British actor, stunt performer, mixed martial artist and former professional basketball player. Born on 10 August 1983 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, he began his career in sport before transitioning to film and television work.
He is known for portraying the infected Alpha Samson in 28 Years Later (2025) and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026). Other credits include Phoebus in Gladiator II (2024), Negative Dude in The Running Man (2025), and stunt work on Kraven the Hunter (2024). He has also appeared in series such as Slow Horses, Ted Lasso and Ghosts.
