{"id":429512,"date":"2026-05-03T00:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T00:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/429512\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T00:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T00:28:11","slug":"sequel-to-will-smiths-19-year-old-sci-fi-movie-breaks-a-streak-that-goes-back-to-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/429512\/","title":{"rendered":"Sequel to Will Smith’s 19-Year-Old Sci-Fi Movie Breaks a Streak That Goes Back to 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Will Smith<\/a> has a few major franchises to his name, the blockbuster star\u2019s upcoming I Am Legend<\/a> sequel marks a major first for him in the last 23 years. Will Smith was no stranger to a blockbuster franchise or three near the start of his screen career. After emerging as an emerging talent via his hip hop career and the classic \u201890s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Smith established himself as a credible dramatic actor with a role in 1993\u2019s acclaimed Six Degrees of Separation. Soon, Hollywood A-list superstardom came calling.<\/p>\n

Throughout the \u201890s, Smith starred in a string of massive franchises. Bad Boys and Men in Black both became huge series for the star, and they were followed by a string of one-off hits like Ali, I, Robot, Hitch, and I Am Legend. The last of these will soon receive a belated sequel in the upcoming I Am Legend 2<\/a>, but the arrival of this follow-up marks a surprising first for Smith since 2003. As shocking as it might sound, 2003\u2019s Bad Boys II was the last time Smith starred in a franchise-launching first sequel.<\/p>\n

I Am Legend 2 Is Will Smith\u2019s First New Franchise Since 2003\u2019s Bad Boys II<\/p>\n

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To be clear, between 2024\u2019s Bad Boys: Ride or Die<\/a> and 2012\u2019s Men in Black 3, Smith has starred in sequels since 2003. However, I Am Legend 2 is specifically his first \u201csecond movie\u201d in a series since he returned for director Michael Bay\u2019s bombastic Bad Boys sequel some 23 years ago. Before that, 2002\u2019s underwhelming Men in Black II had expanded his sci-fi comedy franchise. Since Bad Boys II, Smith has sporadically appeared in sequels to existing movie franchises, but hasn\u2019t reprised another role outside of them.<\/p>\n

Broadly speaking, Smith typically avoids sequels where possible. He didn\u2019t come back for 2016\u2019s Independence Day: Resurgence, he was recast for 2021\u2019s Suicide Squad reboot The Suicide Squad, and even 2019\u2019s much-maligned franchise reboot Men in Black: International<\/a> didn\u2019t feature an appearance from him as Agent J. Thus, I Am Legend 2 is notable for tempting Smith to return, even though most of his recent blockbuster roles have been original projects outside of two further Bad Boys sequels.<\/p>\n

I Am Legend 2\u2019s Will Smith Comeback Is Already Complicated<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

What\u2019s particularly interesting about this comeback is that Smith\u2019s I Am Legend 2 return is no ordinary cash-in. The theatrical ending of director Francis Lawrence\u2019s original post-apocalyptic horror thriller I Am Legend saw Smith\u2019s protagonist, Dr. Robert Neville, take his own life to blow up a hive of the movie\u2019s monstrous Darkseekers, but I Am Legend 2 is set to retcon this ending<\/a> and replace it with the movie\u2019s original alternative ending.<\/p>\n

This superior ending, which sticks closer to the source novel, sees a humbled Neville learn that the monsters he has been killing for years are thinking, feeling, sentient beings, and they view him as an unthinking monster for hunting their kind. While I Am Legend 2\u2019s alternate ending was always a more thoughtful and original ending, it will still be strange to see Will Smith\u2019s return to the I Am Legend franchise retcon the coda that most viewers are familiar with before getting into the plot of the sequel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Will Smith has a few major franchises to his name, the blockbuster star\u2019s upcoming I Am Legend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[65694,93,187625,187626,61,60,270,7583],"class_list":["post-429512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-answer-feature","tag-entertainment","tag-i-am-legend","tag-i-am-legend-2","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-will-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}