I Am Legend 2: Will Smith finally confirms this rumor that has been around for 10 years

Released in 2007, I Am Legend was a huge success for Will Smith, grossing $585 million worldwide on a $150 million budget. Considered a classic of the post-apocalyptic genre, this adaptation of Richard Matheson’s novel left its mark.

A Hollywood sequel has been rumored since 2012, but nothing concrete has been announced. 10 years later, in 2022, screenwriter and producer Akiva Goldsman revealed that the I Am Legend 2 project had begun with the return of Will Smith, accompanied by Michael B. Jordan. Francis Lawrence is also set to return to the director’s chair, but nothing has been decided yet.

Since then, fans have been asking themselves a legitimate question: How can Robert Neville (Will Smith) return in this sequel, knowing that the character dies at the end of the first part?

In the original work, Will Smith plays the role of Robert Neville, a scientist who is in charge of a virus that is destroying the population and transforming it into mutants.

The last man alive in New York, the scientist tries to devote himself completely to his mission: to overcome the virus, to reverse its terrible consequences using his own blood.

How to bring Will Smith to life?

At the end of the film, Robert Neville passed the gun to the left, which destroyed his possible return to the sequel. In 2019, Francis Lawrence announced on the Happy Sad Confused podcast:

“Warner really wanted to do another one, but I didn’t see what we could do. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that people wanted to see “The Last Man on Earth”, so we showed them The Last Man on Earth. ”

“But because he dies at the end, we can’t do anything else with him. Also, I think the audience isn’t as attached to the character as they can be with Indiana Jones. It’s not the kind of icon that could. Come back again and again.”she said.

“I think making a prequel is a bit slow, it was too similar Contagious. And it wouldn’t be possible to do a sequel with Robert Neville anyway, or you’d have to do something stupid like “scientists took his DNA and managed to recreate him”. That would be completely stupid, so I preferred to go down the ridge.”Francis Lawrence insisted.

Will Smith confirms alternate ending rumors

However, the director did not think of another solution. In order to make this sequel possible, it has been rumored for 10 years that screenwriter Akiva Goldsman was going to use an alternate ending to the story featured in the first film’s Blu-ray/DVD bonuses.

This information was confirmed by Will Smith himself at the Red Sea International Film Festival.

“I’ll call Michael B. Jordan tomorrow” The actor confided while speaking. “We are very close, the scenario just happened, maybe I am giving too much information.

You’d have to be a real I Am Legend fan to know this, but in the movie version my character dies, and on the DVD there’s an alternate version of the ending where my character survives. We follow the mythology of the DVD version. I can’t say anything more, but Michael B. Jordan is in the game.”revealed by Will Smith.

You’d have to be a real I Am Legend fan to know this, but in the movie version my character dies, and on the DVD there’s an alternate version of the ending where my character survives.

What happens in this alternate ending?

Instead of shooting the infected with a hand grenade, Neville realizes they’ve come to retrieve the woman he’s been experimenting on. The scientist opens the door and hands it to the family.

The infected then leave the lab, leaving Robert alive. The latter follows Anna (Alyssa Braga) and Ethan (Charlie Tahan) to Bethel, Vermont.

In this version, Neville has not found the antidote, but he remains alive. This result, completely open, will therefore be the starting point for the second part. In this alternate ending, the issue of good and evil was more nuanced.

Robert Neville discovered that the leader of the infected was simply trying to find the woman he was keeping in his lab, not kill her. Neville then realized that he had become a monster in their eyes, forcing him to abandon his research to find a cure and search for a colony of survivors.

I Am Legend 2 does not yet have an announced release date; However, it should not be released in cinemas until 2025. Meanwhile, on June 12, we’ll find Will Smith in Bad Boys 4.