Producer Akiva Goldsman gave an update on the sequel to 2007’s I Am Legend in an interview with Deadline. Will Smith will reprise his role as Dr. Neville from the first film in the project, which does not yet have a director. Dr. Neville is one of the few people left alive after a pandemic turned most people into vampires. Michael B. Jordan will appear in the film in an unspecified capacity.
Goldsman reveals the sequel will be based on the alternate ending of I Am Legend, which was featured on the film’s DVD and Blu-ray release in 2008 and in which Dr. Neville lives.
“This will begin several decades after the first,” Goldsman told Deadline. He also stated that he is “crazy” about The Last of Us, HBO’s buzzy adaptation of the PlayStation video game, and how it shows the post-apocalyptic world with a “20-30 year lapse.”
“You witness how the earth reclaims the planet, and there’s something wonderful in the idea of what happens when man steps back from being the major tenant.” According to Goldsman, “It will be especially noticeable in New York. I’m not sure if they’ll scale the Empire State Building, but the possibilities are limitless.”
Goldsman went on to say that I Am Legend 2 (title TBD) will be more faithful to Richard Matheson’s 1957 novel in how it takes up from the film’s alternate conclusion, which fans and reviewers alike agree is superior to the theatrical version. “We track back to the original Matheson novel and the alternate conclusion in the original picture,” Goldsman explained.
“What Matheson was referring to was the fact that man’s time as the dominant species on the earth had come to an end. It will be a fascinating topic for us to investigate. There will be more adherence to the original content.”
While the theatrical finale of I Am Legend ends with a stupid explosion, the alternate ending stays true to Matheson’s ideas. The film’s finale depicts Dr. Neville letting the film’s adversary — a vampire pack leader whom he mistook for a mindless killer —reconnect with his mate, whom Neville had imprisoned for medical tests. This finale reflects the book’s themes of isolation and perspective, as Dr. Neville learns he is the vampires’ monster, having killed and experimented on their kind.
The ending is different from the book because Dr. Neville lives to bring medicine to one of the last human outposts. This shows that people are given a second chance.With Michael B. Jordan joining the cast of I Am Legend 2, it’s possible that humanity’s fresh start isn’t so simply gained and that there’s still work to be done before man can recover the world.
There is no set release date for I Am Legend 2.