Released in 2007, I Am Legend is set in a world nearly depopulated by a mutated virus. As billions died, some humans became zombie-like creatures known as Darkseekers, driven by hunger and aggression, brutally attacking anything – but only at night. Because they are sensitive to UV light, they have to hide in buildings during the day, just like vampires.
The film revolves around virologist Robert Neville (Will Smith), who believes he is the last living person in New York and tries to find a cure for the virus. At the end – SPOILERS beware – not only does he meet other people, but he also manages to create a cure. He entrusts this to a young woman named Anna. To protect her and allow her to escape, he has to blow himself and some infected people up with a hand grenade. In the end, Neville is dead, but he would now return for the sequel “I Am Legend 2”.
Alternate ending of “I Am Legend” as the premise
As producer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman revealed: you use the movie’s alternate ending, which is closer to Richard Matheson’s book. That’s what he originally had in mind for the film’s ending anyway, but pressure from the studio forced him to change it. The alternate movie version, which is now canon through the sequel, is included on the Blu-ray releases. Not only is the other end included as an extra, but there is also a complete alternative movie version (albeit only in the original English version). In addition to the changed ending, there are also two new small scenes that are important to understand the ending, but also solve a small logical gap in the theatrical version.
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Here Robert realizes that the infected are not after him in the final attack in the first place, but want to free the infected woman, which he uses for his experiments. He hands them over and can then leave with Anna unhindered towards a camp of survivors. There is no cure here, but the knowledge that the Darkseeker are not soulless zombies, but intelligent beings who have created their own society – and now rule Earth without the disturbing humans.
According to Goldsman, the sequel aims to be “more faithful” to the original artwork. In conversation with the magazine He pointed out that the novelist Richard Matheson had thought about what it would be like if the era of humans as the dominant species on Earth came to an end. This is an interesting approach that we now want to explore in “I Am Legend 2”.
“Last Of Us” as a role model
There will be a big leap in time in the sequel. ‘We start a few decades after the first film’explains Goldsman, citing a title as a role model that is now on everyone’s lips:
He describes himself as “obsessed with ‘The Last Of Us'” and finds it interesting that it shows a post-apocalyptic world 20 to 30 years later. You can see in the video game hit, which is currently being successfully adapted as a series, how the Earth has taken back the world and he also wants to show that using the example of New York: “I don’t know if they will then climb the Empire State Building, but the possibilities are endless,” says Goldsman.
“I Am Legend 2” was confirmed as part of the announcement that Akvia Goldsman and his company Weed Road are returning under the Warner umbrella after being contractually bound to MGM. Goldsman and Warner previously made I Am Legend together. The sequel, which will feature “Creed” star Michael B. Jordan in an as-yet-unknown role alongside the returning Will Smith, is one of two projects Goldsman is tackling directly. The second is also a sequel more than 15 years after the co-created original: “Constantine 2” with Keanu Reeves.
When “I am a legend 2‘ could come to the cinemas is still unknown. Goldsman still appears to be working on the final script.