Will Smith starred in this iconic post-apocalyptic horror movie that released 18 years ago on December 14, 2007, as the third adaptation of a sci-fi novel masterpiece. Before taking on the Hunger Games franchise, The Long Walk, Red Sparrow, and more, director Francis Lawrence joined the long-planned remake of a classic sci-fi novel in 2005, shortly after the release of his directorial debut, Constantine. While this remake did receive some criticism, especially because the ending changed the story from the original novel, the 2007 movie received a mostly positive response and left us wanting more for the future.

Will Smith debuted as Robert Neville in I Am Legend in 2007, and he is now set to reprise the role in a much-anticipated sequel. Robert Neville is a United States Army virologist lieutenant colonel who lives alone in New York City three years after the outbreak of a virus that kills 90% of the human population and transforms the rest into vampiric, mutated “Darkseekers.” He spends his days searching for a cure and hunting for supplies with his canine companion, Sam. I Am Legend was not the first time we saw this story on-screen, however.

I Am Legend Adapted Richard Matheson’s 1954 Sci-Fi Novel for the Third Time

Richard Matheson, acclaimed sci-fi horror writer of Hell House, The Shrinking Man, Duel, and more, released I Am Legend in 1954. The novel was influential in the development of the zombie and vampire genre in the modern age, laying the foundations for many of our favorite TV shows and movies featuring zombies and viruses. I Am Legend explored themes of isolation, depression, alcoholism, and desperation, which made it the perfect character-driven story to adapt for the screen, though none of these live-action projects have adapted the story faithfully.

The first theatrical adaptation was Sidney Salkow and Ubaldo B. Ragona’s The Last Man on Earth, released on May 6, 1964. The Last Man on Earth starred Vincent Price as Dr. Robert Morgan (not Neville), and came close to adapting the ending of I Am Legend—in which Neville meets Ruth, a living vampire, who tells him her people are establishing a new society and have called for his execution for killing so many of them—properly, but just missed the mark. Boris Sagal’s The Omega Man from August 1971 completely changed the story by putting Charlton Heston’s Robert Neville in more of an action-based situation and removing the vampire iconography.

In 2007, Francis Lawrence’s I Am Legend marked the third live-action adaptation of Matheson’s original novel, and became the most successful and popular. The Darkseekers blend vampire and zombie mythology into fast-moving and terrifying creatures plaguing the world in the years after the outbreak, returning to Matheson’s root creatures. These creatures also end up building new societies and new rules, and viewing Neville as the villain. Oft-awkward special effects and epic changes to the story’s ending, however, earned the movie some criticism, but we still wanted to see this world explored in more detail.

I Am Legend’s Sequel Is Finally in Development

Back in 2008, after I Am Legend became a critical and commercial success, Francis Lawrence revealed that there were plans to develop a prequel to the movie, which would see Will Smith reprise his role. This would have revealed what happened to Neville before the infected Darkseekers took over New York, forming a team to travel to Washington DC to make a last stand against the infected—putting Neville’s military skills front-and-center. By 2011, however, this project was no longer moving forward. In 2014, however, Warner Bros. acquired a script entitled A Garden at the End of the World and noticed similarities to I Am Legend, so work on a sequel was resumed.

A sequel to I Am Legend was officially confirmed to be in development on March 4, 2022, with original movie co-writer Akiva Goldsman returning to pen the script, and Will Smith set to reprise his role, despite his reluctance to appear in sequels. Michael B. Jordan is also set to star alongside Smith, and will follow on from the canonical ending of I Am Legend, rather than the theatrical. In the canon, Neville got immune survivors Anna and Ethan to a survivor camp in Bethel after learning the error of his ways in New York. Rumors suggest Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) could be directing the sequel, but we’re yet to hear anything about the story or scheduled release date for the much-anticipated movie.

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