An “I Am Legend” Sequel Is On The Way

Will Smith is set to reprise his role in a sequel for I Am Legend, and Michael B. Jordan will be joining him for the ride.

The original 2007 movie follows Robert Neville (Will Smith), a brilliant scientist, who is a survivor of a man-made plague that transforms humans into bloodthirsty mutants. He wanders alone through New York City, calling out for other possible survivors, and works on finding a cure for the plague using his own immune blood. Neville knows he is badly outnumbered and the odds are against him, and all the while, the infected wait for him to make a mistake that will deliver Neville into their hands.

The ensuing years has turned this movie into a classic with a cult following and now that a sequel is officially in the works, fans can get back to theorizing how the story will play out.

For starters, I Am Legend 2 has been said to not be picking up where the original movie left; instead, it will use an alternate ending as its starting point. Will Smith, who starred in the original his character, will be brought back to life. According to filmmaker and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, the sequel will also take place years after the original film.

“This will start a few decades later than the first,” Goldsman said. “ “I’m obsessed with The Last of Us, where we see the world just post-apocalypse but also after a 20-30-year lapse. You see how the earth reclaims the world, and there’s something beautiful in the question of, as man steps away from being the primary tenant, what happens? That will be especially visual in New York. I don’t know if they’ll climb up to the empire state building, but the possibilities are endless.”

“We trace back to the original [Richard] Matheson book, and the alternate ending as opposed to the released ending in the original film,” he added. “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.”

There’s no official release date for I Am Legend 2 yet.