I Am Legend 2 Moving Ahead, As Writer Talks Last Of Us Inspiration

I Am Legend 2, the sequel to the 2007 post-apocalyptic film starring Will Smith, is moving ahead at Warner Bros. Akiva Goldsman, who heads up production company Weed Road, told Deadline that the sequel is inspired by HBO's The Last of Us and picks up "a few decades" after the first movie. As confirmed previously, Smith will return alongside Michael B. Jordan.

"I'm obsessed with The Last of Us, where we see the world just post-apocalypse but also after a 20-30-year lapse. You see how the earth reclaims the world, and there's something beautiful in the question of, as man steps away from being the primary tenant, what happens?" Goldsman said. "That will be especially visual in New York. I don't know if they'll climb up to the Empire State Building, but the possibilities are endless."

I Am Legend 2 will also take inspiration from the Richard Matheson book. While the theatrical ending of I Am Legend saw Smith's character sacrifice himself for the greater good, I Am Legend 2 picks up the plot from the alternate ending in which Smith survives.

"What Matheson was talking about was that man's time on the planet as the dominant species had come to an end. That's a really interesting thing we're going to get to explore. There will be a little more fidelity to the original text," Goldsman said.

2007's I Am Legend earned more than $585 million at the box office. Similar to the movie Contagion, I Am Legend picked up steam at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 due to its story about a global disaster.

It's still early days for I Am Legend 2, as there is no word yet on who will direct, who will appear beyond Smith and Jordan, or when the film may begin shooting. The original film was directed by Francis Lawrence, who is also directing the upcoming BioShock movie and the Hunger Games prequel.