I Am Legend Sequel Set a Few Decades Later, Based on Alternate Ending

A sequel to I Am Legend was announced last year, which would see Michael B. Jordan join the series alongside the returning Will Smith, with a new update about the project confirming that the upcoming movie will honor the alternate ending of the film and take place decades after the first adaptation of Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel of the same name. Writer of the original film Akiva Goldsman is returning for the sequel, and while he confirmed to Deadline some details on the project’s status, he didn’t reveal who Jordan will be playing in the highly anticipated sequel to the 2007 film.

“This will start a few decades later than the first,” the filmmaker revealed to the outlet. “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 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.”

The original film focused on Smith’s Neville seemingly becoming the sole survivor of a virus that transforms humanity into vampire-like monsters. He spends his days trying to find a “cure” to the disease, which would allow humanity to make a comeback. 

The theatrical ending features Neville seemingly finding a cure, which he gives to his fellow survivors who go off in search of a colony of survivors, as Neville blows himself up to stop invading “Darkseekers.” In the alternate ending, however, before he sacrifices himself, he realizes that these Darkseekers have an intelligence and community to them, and they spare his life. The realization is that, while Neville considered the Darkseekers to be monsters, they view him as the ruthless murderer and tormentor of their kind. After surviving this encounter, Neville also goes out in search of a colony of survivors.

Stay tuned for details on the I Am Legend sequel.

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