I Am Legend Director Still Feels Conflicted Over Both of Film’s Endings

Francis Lawrence’s I Am Legend is only one adaptation of the 1954 story of the same name from Richard Matheson, which notably had both a theatrical ending and an alternate ending that was abandoned, though both of those endings deviate from the actual finale in the source material. While the alternate ending falls more closely in line with the source material, Lawrence recently detailed how he wished he had entirely honored the conclusion of the Matheson novel, noting how a previous live-action adaptation had been more faithful and audiences weren’t entirely dismayed. A sequel is reportedly on the way with Will Smith set to return.

“I prefer the original ending to the two that we have. But the truth is now I would’ve built it do be able to do the ending from the novella, truly just do that story,” Lawrence recently recalled to the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “But with the money being spent, everybody was nervous about doing something so nihilistic. But looking back I feel like everybody went to see The Last Man on Earth and enjoyed it for that reason and would’ve still enjoyed [I Am Legend] with the nihilistic ending.”

The premise of I Am Legend sees a disease overtaking humanity and turns them into nocturnal, bloodthirsty monsters akin to vampires, with Robert Neville (Smith) managing to survive the apocalyptic event. In Lawrence’s adaptation, Neville regularly kills and captures these creatures to experiment on in hopes of finding a “cure.” In the theatrical ending, Neville offers a fatal sacrifice to help fellow survivors escape, possibly allowing them to spread his research to find a potential cure.

The alternate ending instead shows Neville nearly being overtaken by these creatures, only to realize that they have high enough mental functions to not be attacking him, but merely trying to rescue one of the creatures that he took captive. Neville survives and realizes that, to these creatures, it’s actually he who was the monster. This alternate ending falls more in line with the source material, though the Matheson story sees Neville realizing the impact he would have on the future of these beings, uttering, “I am legend,” before he dies from consuming suicide pills. 

The planned sequel will honor the alternate ending as canon as opposed to the theatrical ending, with it still being possible that the follow-up could find a way to more authentically replicate the events of the original story.

Stay tuned for updates on the I Am Legend sequel.

Which ending do you prefer? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!