The original 2007 I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence explains why I Am Legend 2 has faced so many troubles getting made over the years.
Original I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence has offered his thoughts on the troubles faced by the long-gestating I Am Legend 2. Loosely based on the post-apocalyptic novel by Richard Matheson, 2007’s I Am Legend starred Will Smith as Robert Neville, a US Army virologist who continues to live in the ruins of New York City as he attempts to find a cure for a genetically engineered virus that has turned most of humanity into cannibalistic mutants. After years of attempts to develop a follow-up, in March 2022 a new sequel was finally announced with Michael B. Jordan set to star opposite a returning Smith.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lawrence offered his insights into the troubles plaguing attempts to develop I Am Legend 2, revealing that talks about making either a sequel or a prequel had first begun as soon as they finished the first movie. However, according to the director, everyone involved “went off and did different things” until he eventually heard plans of a possible reboot. While Lawrence has heard that the original screenwriter Akiva Goldsman is currently working on the project, his own focus is on the upcoming Constantine 2. Check out his comments below:
It’s a tough one. We talked about a sequel or prequel right after we made the original one. Then we all went off and did different things. And then I remember hearing that they were going to just do a reboot of it and remake it with somebody else, but then that went away. I know that Akiva is working on something now, but honestly, my focus is on Constantine 2. So we’ll see. Best of luck.
Should I Am Legend 2 Have Been A Prequel Instead?
From Lawrence’s comments, it is apparent that the original I Am Legend director will most likely not be returning for the upcoming sequel. However, that is not the only thing the sequel is set to change. With the original theatrical ending from 2007’s I Am Legend diverting from the book and seeing Smith’s character sacrifice himself to allow his fellow survivors time to escape, the new sequel will instead rely on the alternate ending later made available on the movie’s eventual DVD release.
Yet while Lawrence’s alternate ending may have been closer thematically to the intent of the original book, it too made significant changes to the source material, which saw a dying Neville realize that he has become the villain in the eyes of the Darkseekers on whom he had been experimenting. While Goldsman has intimated that the new sequel will more closely follow the intent of the original book, it is already operating from a distinctly different premise by having Smith’s character survive his time in New York and set out with the cure in his possession.
2007’s I Am Legend was the third movie adaptation of Matheson’s book, previously inspiring 1964’s Last Man on Earth and 1971’s The Omega Man.
Long before Goldsman’s most recent plans for a sequel, Lawrence was originally set to direct a prequel that was intended to be written by Game of Thrones co-creator D. B. Weiss. The prequel, which would have also featured Smith, was intended to reveal what happened to his character before the Darkseekers took over New York City. While it too would have been a significant departure from the original book, the decision to pursue a prequel could have potentially avoided any of the confusion that inevitably comes from I Am Legend 2 relying on an alternate ending.
