These days, filmmaker and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman is living la vida loca as he is back at his craft with the announcement of a sequel to the 2007 film, “I Am Legend” with a follow-up, “I Am Legend 2”. The movie is set to star Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan. Goldsman’s filmography includes Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, I, Robot, Cinderella Man, I Am Legend, and A Beautiful Mind in which he won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Known for making adaptations of popular novels, Goldsman shared that “I Am Legend 2 will add a twist to the outcome of the characters in the end. In I Am Legend 2, Goldsman will revert back to the original Richard Matheson book; however, the ending will coincide with Matheson proposed of man’s end as the dominant species. Goldsman promises more fidelity and exploration in the film with context of the outcome. In addition, the set will be fast-forwarded a few decades later than the first film.
In the original ending of the first ‘I Am Legend’, Will Smith’s character, Neville is sacrificed so a woman and her child could live. However, the alternate ending places Neville making amends with the infected by leaving New York. The idea of an apocalyptic fight with a global pandemic seemed far-fetched at the time, but what we have learned in the last three years is what seems impossible, can become reality in a New York second.
The Warner Bros. project is Akiva Goldsman’s second project since signing his production deal. With ‘I Am Legend’ and ‘Constantine 2’, starring Keanu Reeves in the works, Goldsman is on a roll to produce two blockbusters to be released in 2024.
