Nearly two decades later, a sequel to the Will Smith-led action sci-fi movie I Am Legend is finally moving forward after officially landing a knockout director. The follow-up will take the unusual but clearly necessary step of making its alternate (and more book accurate) ending canon, meaning that, unlike in what audiences saw in theaters back in 2007, Will Smith’s Dr. Robert Neville, one of the few survivors of a virus that has transformed most of humanity into nocturnal mutants, is still alive and thus able to have another post-apocalyptic adventure all these years later.
Directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Akiva Goldsman and Mark Protosevich, and based on the book of the same name by Richard Matheson, the first I Am Legend follows Will Smith as an isolated man in a post-apocalyptic New York who believes he may be the only survivor of a viral outbreak. The action horror outing was praised at the time for both the depiction of a vacant NYC and Smith’s powerful performance, finding box office success and solid reviews. A sequel has been in the works since as far back as 2008, and things are finally moving in the right direction.
I Am Legend 2 will add Smith’s fellow Academy Award winner Michael B. Jordan to the fray, with the sequel expected to pick up years later and take audiences back into the mutated world inhabited by “monsters.” While details beyond that remain largely under wraps, it has now been confirmed (via Collider) that I Am Legend 2 really is happening, with Creed II director Steven Caple Jr.officially taking the helm.
Though the filmmaker did not give away any other details regarding I Am Legend 2 (he’s currently busy doing the rounds for his Man on Fire Netflix reboot due to release next week), adding Caple Jr. to proceedings makes perfect sense. After making his debut with the low-budget The Land back in 2016, the director then joined forces with Michael B. Jordan for the acclaimed boxing sequel Creed II before entering fully-fledged blockbuster territory with 2023’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts which, while divisive among critics, proved to be a major crowd-pleaser.
His prior relationship with Jordan, his experience in big-budget action sequels, and his affinity for bringing human drama to both indie and blockbuster projects make Caple Jr. A great choice for I Am Legend 2, which will require all of the above to make an impression.
As for the plot and who Jordan will play, Will Smith has hinted at what’s to come. While there had been speculation that the Sinners star would play Robert Nevill’s son, he will instead be another survivor, with Smith revealing, “What we were gonna do was the prequel, so we were gonna do the prequel. And [Akiva Goldsman] was like, but wait, what if we make a new version from the alternate ending, where your character is still alive and, you know, Michael B. Jordan’s character currently is the head of a new settlement. He’s not my son. So there’s a settlement in Connecticut.” I Am Legend 2 does not yet have a release date, but with a director now confirmed, we can expect more updates soon.
- Release Date
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December 14, 2007
- Runtime
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101 minutes
