Everything we know about I Am Legend 2

I Am Legend 2 is officially in the works with Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan, despite more than a decade having passed since the original post-apocalyptic thriller and multiple failed follow-up attempts.

Released in 2007, I Am Legend saw the filmmaker behind Keanu Reeves’ Constantine movie, Francis Lawrence, adapt sci-fi author Richard Matheson’s much-loved end-of-the-world thriller about the lone survivor of a vampiric viral outbreak that has brought society to the brink of extinction.

Smith starred as Robert Neville, a lonely virologist who spends his days trying to find a cure to the pandemic that has transformed humanity into night-dwelling hoards known as Darkseekers. With only his dog for company, Neville searches for other survivors while trying to avoid falling victim to the bloodsucking fate that has claimed the vast majority of Earth’s population.

With the likes of The Last Of Us and Fallout bringing humanity’s dismal end back into fashion, the timing finally feels right for the arrival of I Am Legend 2. Here’s everything we know about it so far.

When will I Am Legend 2 be released?

I Am Legend 2 doesn’t have a release date yet but the very fact that we’re talking about it as a film that’s currently in production is still reason enough to celebrate.

Talk of a follow-up began as early as 2008, with Lawrence revealing plans for a prequel which would chronicle the cataclysmic events that saw humanity brought to its knees.

Lawrence was set to helm the project and hoped the infamously-sequel-shy Smith would return too. However, finding the right story proved difficult and by 2011, the filmmaker had squashed all hopes of the prequel moving forward.

Thankfully, things changed in early 2022 when a direct sequel was officially announced.

What is the plot of I Am Legend 2?

Original I Am Legend screenwriter Akiva Goldsman will return to pen I Am Legend 2, teasing that the film will pick up not after the film’s official climax but instead follow the events of its alternate ending.

Those familiar with the first film will remember that in its final moments, Neville sacrifices himself to secure the safety of two fellow survivors and a potential cure that could fix humanity.

Godsman’s sequel will instead pick up after the events of I Am Legend’s alternative ending which instead stuck more closely to the ending of Matheson’s book. Here, Neville discovers that the attacking Darkseekers are simply trying to recover their loved ones which he is using as test subjects to find a cure.

After releasing his captive Darkseekers and finding a kind of truce between himself and his enemy, Neville embarks on a quest to find a survivor stronghold with a newfound understanding of the infected and what motivates them.

“We trace back to the original Matheson book, and the alternate ending as opposed to the released ending in the original film,” explained Goldsman of his new story. “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.”

While script-specifics are still locked away, Goldsman has revealed that he’ll be using The Last of Us as a key reference point for his sequel.

“I’m obsessed with The Last of Us, where we see the world just post-apocalypse but also after a 20-30-year lapse,” said Goldsman. “You see how the Earth reclaims the world, and there’s something beautiful in the question of, as a 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.”

I Am Legend 2 cast

Smith will return as Neville in I Am Legend 2. He’ll be joined by Creed star Michael B. Jordan in a role that currently remains a mystery. Both will serve as executive producers.

Other than these two, no other casting news has been made official. However, original film actor Alicia Braga who played Anna - a survivor who made it out of the first film in one piece - has expressed an interest in returning to the franchise.

“I was super surprised and very curious,” Braga told Collider, seemingly unaware that a sequel was officially in the works. “I was almost jumping on the phone and saying, ‘Can I please be in it? Can I please be in it? Can I please be in it?’”

“I’m a huge Akiva fan, I think he’s such a wonderful writer… I was very excited to hear that they were continuing with the movie.”

I Am Legend 2 is coming soon.