Last year, I Am Legend 2 with Will Smith was officially announced. What remained open was the question of how the star could return in the sci-fi sequel. Now there is an answer.
When a sequel to the 2022 sci-fi hit I Am Legend starring Will Smith was announced, there was one main question: how would the star return after his character died at the end of the first part? There was already one theory, which has now been officially confirmed.
I Am Legend 2 refers to the alternative ending of part 1.
As Screen Rant reports, producer Akiva Goldsman talked about the development of I Am Legend 2 in a new Deadline interview, confirming what many have already suspected. The sci-fi sequel ignores the theatrical version’s ending and refers to the alternate ending that was later released with the home theater version of the hit film.
In the theatrical version of I Am Legend, Smith’s main character Robert Neville ends up sacrificing himself with a hand grenade while fighting a horde of the zombie-like infected.
At the time, an alternate ending was released on DVD in which Robert realizes the attackers’ goal and reaches a peaceful outcome in which the infected seek to form their community and eventually leave the survivors alone.
This ending, which sticks more closely to the novel by Richard Matheson, now officially becomes canon for I Am Legend 2. This clarifies how Smith will return in the sequel. Michael B. Jordan also joins the star in the sequel, which producer Akiva Goldsman says will be set many years after the first installment. I Am Legend 2 is expected to hit theaters in 2025.
