I Am Legend 2, with Michael B Jordan and Will Smith, is inspired by The Last of Us

Although it’s been over 15 years since I Am Legend (2007) hit cinemas, the Will Smith-starring apocalypse film has – much to its writers’ dismay – taken on new meaning in recent years. Specifically, for a brief stint during the pandemic, it was co-opted as an anti-vaxxer movie. The film follows Smith as a lone survivor in New York, after an attempt to genetically reengineer the measles virus to cure cancer wipes out most of the global population; those who aren’t killed are turned into mutant vampires who feed on the uninfected survivors. Which is, according to conspiracy theorists, what the Covid vaccine will do to you (it won’t).

Now, having survived the rumour mill, the film’s co-writer Akiva Goldsman – who was forced to tweet at the time, “Oh. My. God. It’s a movie. I made that up. It’s. Not. Real.” – has announced that he’s journeying into a post-apocalyptic world with I Am Legend 2. Here’s everything we know about the forthcoming sequel.

Who’s in the cast?

Smith is set to reprise his role as scientist Robert Neville who – spoiler – finds the cure at the end of the first film. You might then be wondering how the actor, whose character dies, is going to be resurrected. Well, the writers are picking up from the alternate ending, which more closely follows Richard Matheson’s original novel (and can be found below and on the two-disc special edition DVD). In this ending, Smith lives and travels in search of a survivors’ camp. 

The only other cast member currently announced is I Am Legend newcomer Michael B. Jordan, whose role hasn’t yet been confirmed. Both Smith and Jordan are also credited as producers.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight last year, Smith said Jordan was “part of creating the idea” for the sequel, which he described as “a really, really cool concept”. “It was one of those ones I was gonna leave alone,” he continued, “and then I heard the idea.”