If you’ve seen Francis Lawrence’s “I Am Legend” then you know that Will Smith’s Dr. Robert Neville dies at the end. I was really entertained by that movie, but felt the ending was severely underwhelming.
The "alternate" ending was actually removed from the theatrical cut due to negative response from test screening audiences. Lawrence knew he f*cked up and decided to reinsert the alternate ending on the two-disc special edition DVD, released in 2008.
Now, it’s been confirmed by Smith that the sequel will use the “alternate ending” as canon, pretend the original never occurred. Smith’s Dr. Robert Neville will be back from the dead as he resumes his experiments on the Darkseekers.
Here’s Smith giving us an update on the sequel, which might start production next year (via Screen Daily):
I have a call with Michael B. Jordan tomorrow. The script just came in. We’re going with the mythology of the DVD version where my character lived.
On March 2022, a sequel was officially announced by Warner Bros. Smith was said to reprise his role, and that left a lot of people puzzled as to how that could be since, as mentioned, he didn’t survive in the original film. Well, we now have our answer — they’re just going to pretend like that ending never happened.
Michael B. Jordan is also set to star, he’s producing the film with Smith. Akiva Goldsman (“A Beautiful Mind,” “Cinderella Man,” “Constantine”) has written the screenplay. It’s all coming together and why wouldn’t they make a sequel? The 2007 film grossed close to $600 million worldwide.
Lawrence is actually not a half bad studio filmmaker. He’s made some good films movie the course of his 18-year directing career. Nothing overtly exceptional, but he’s been consistent: “Constantine,” “I Am Legend,” “Catching Fire,” and “Red Sparrow” stick out. There are far worse filmmakers out there …
Also, Smith might have slapped Chris Rock on live TV, but he’s starting to get busy again, with multiple new projects on the horizon. He’s already shot “Bad Boys 4,” which is due for release next year and has a few other films in pre-production.
Eight years ago, Ehrenreich, who was seen by many as a rising star, was blamed in some circles for “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which led to a five-year break from acting. He is now back, and with a vengeance.