In 2007 we saw Will Smith as the last man on earth in I Am Legend. Set after a virus wiped out almost all human life on Earth, Smith’s character was immune and seemed to be the only person in New York. Well, apart from the nocturnal mutants that hid during the day.
I Am Legend was directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Akiva Goldsman and Mark Protosvich, based on the book by Richard Matheson from 1954. Goldsman has now confirmed that I Am Legend 2 is in the works.
At the moment, everything is very much under wraps, but Smith will be back as Robert Neville and he will be joined by Michael B. Jordan. No word yet on who Jordan will be playing.
Different Endings *Spoilers*
OK, there are spoilers here, but the movie came out over 16 years ago.
There were two different endings to I Am Legend, basically, one where Neville dies, one where he survives. I honestly cannot remember which way around they are now, but I remember liking the alternate ending more than the theatrical cut. Goldsman says:
“We trace back to the original Matheson book, and the alternate ending as opposed to the released ending in the original film. What Matheson was talking about was that man’s time on the planet as the dominant species had come to an end.
That’s a really interesting thing we’re going to get to explore. There will be a little more fidelity to the original text.”
Alice Braga was in the original and ate Nevill’s bacon. She survived the end of the movie and she would like to come back for a sequel. She didn’t know about the second movie until recently and was said to have jumped on the phone and asked to be in it.
Sam the dog will not be back for the sequel.
More Of The Same
The original book of I Am Legend inspired other movies, The Last Man on Earth (1964) starring Vincent Price and The Omega Man (1971) starring Charles Heston. I have seen both movies, but I can’t remember much about them now.
We are quite used to seeing post-apocalyptic movies and video games. The Last of Us, which was a game and then a popular TV series, seems to have influenced Goldsman into penning I Am Legend 2. There is no set date yet for the movie, but we’ll keep you posted.
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