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After years of speculation and excitement, I Am Legend 2 finally received the green light in 2022, which will bring back Will Smith in the familiar role of Robert Neville, the last surviving man on Earth after a brutal virus has consumed humanity. But that is where the problem with the sequel lies.
The first installment of the film killed off Will Smith's character in the end, deviating significantly from the Richard Matheson novella, which was the source material in this case.
Speaking to Deadline in a recent interview, producer Akiva Goldsman shared new details about I Am Legend 2, including their plans to use the alternative ending of the first film to propel the story forward and bring back Will Smith in the sequel. This ending was not a part of the official release but was used as a bonus in the DVD release.
I Am Legend 2 is also set to star Michael B. Jordan and will probably take place decades after the events of the first one.
"We trace back to the original Matheson book": Akiva Goldsman on I Am Legend 2
Among other details revealed by the producer in the latest interview, Goldsman claimed that the sequel to I Am Legend will take the story closer to the source material, which establishes how humans aren't the dominant species on Earth anymore.
With the original ending in the first film, the adaptation completely changed the theme. But the alternate ending was much closer to the original novella. It also saw Will Smith's character survive after making a sort of truce with the alpha Darkseeker and escaping the place.
Producer Akiva Goldsman said in the interview:
"This will start a few decades later than the first. 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?"
He further continued:
"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."
It seems that whenever the second part of the coveted film does come out, it will be quite an exciting affair. There is still no release date or cast available for I Am Legend 2.
