I Am Legend 2 keeps hitting walls, says its writer — and he swears no dog dies this time
At last, we’ve got a straight answer on where 'I Am Legend 2' stands.
It's been an 18-year wait since I Am Legend first landed in cinemas, and – in classic Hollywood fashion – we’re still twiddling our thumbs for the sequel, which Warner Bros first announced back in 2022. Don’t hold your breath for a surprise release: it’s finally moving forward, but honestly, still quite early days yet.
Slow Crawl Out of Development Hell
On paper, the studio’s got all the main ingredients lined up: Akiva Goldsman is back writing the script, Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II) will direct, and the heavyweights Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan are both set to star. But ‘early development’ means exactly what it sounds like – there are more hurdles than headway at this point.
Read more: 'Nobody's called, the sets are gone': Akiva Goldsman doesn't see Star Trek: Year One happening
Goldsman explained to Radio Times that the journey has been anything but straightforward. There are evidently quite a few brick walls, but he's determined to scale them:
Speaking with Radio Times, Akiva Goldsman acknowledged the setbacks: "I have run up against a series of obstacles that I refuse to allow to defeat me. That is the truth of that one. We're pressing on. We're trying. We're doing everything we can to get it made."
Will Smith, ever the hype man, offered a more upbeat update in May 2024, saying he’s keen to return and that things are looking promising. Fast forward to June, Michael B. Jordan admitted they’re still finessing the script. By July, Goldsman himself confirmed he’d handed in the film’s second draft – so it’s inching along, but far from a sure thing yet.
Goldsman, on the famously traumatising dog scene, promised: "I fear that I would not survive the backlash should we kill another dog. I'd like to point out that between the opening shot and the next shot, we killed almost everybody on the planet. That was OK. You kill one dog – I've never had more walkouts during test screenings."
No More Dog Trauma (Seriously, He Swears)
If you were emotionally scarred the first time around, at least there's one thing Goldsman is ruling out: he swears no more dogs will meet a tragic end. Goldsman openly joked that test audiences could stomach pretty much the entire human race getting wiped out, but snapped over one unlucky pooch.
What's the Sequel Actually About?
Expectations were always going to be complicated, because depending on which version of I Am Legend you remember, Will Smith’s character might have died. The sequel’s now officially retconning that – we’re going with the alternate ending (the one closer to the novel) where Robert Neville survives. This next chapter is set a few decades down the line, after humanity’s collapse; the creative team’s taking some inspiration from The Last of Us, exploring how wild nature has reclaimed the concrete wilderness in a ruined world. Goldsman, tight-lipped on specific story beats, says the focus will be on the struggle of what’s left of mankind trying to stay alive.
- Original: Akiva Goldsman writing again
- Director: Steven Caple Jr.
- Stars: Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan
- Set years after humanity’s downfall
- No more dogs killed (promise!)
- Leaning into the alternate ending where Neville lives
- Script: Second draft delivered in July 2024
Goldsman’s stubborn stick-around does count for something — after all, there’s a graveyard’s worth of sequels that never made it after their creative leads bailed (see Spider-Man 4, Dredd 2, The Goonies 2, and the rather daftly named Se7en follow-up, Ei8th). But, as anyone who’s sat through Basic Instinct 2, The Matrix Resurrections, or Independence Day: Resurgence knows, sometimes the wait is longer than the payoff. For every surprise hit like Twisters or Top Gun: Maverick, there are plenty that probably should have stayed in the vault.
I Am Legend 2 is still scrambling free of development hell, for now.
It's been 18 years since the original film premiered in 2008.