If you were as surprised as the rest of us were about Will Smith announcing that he was returning for an I Am Legend sequel, the Oscar-nominated star has an explanation for you. Entertainment Tonight reports, while attending the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Monday, March 7, Smith revealed his excitement for the new story and working with co-star Michael B. Jordan.
“The idea came up,” Smith said. “I can’t talk about it yet. But it’s a really, really cool concept and he [Jordan] was a part of creating the idea.”
The King Richard star is keeping details close to the vest, but he will also executive produce alongside Jordan.
“It was one of those ones I was gonna leave alone, and then I heard the idea,” he added, then he told himself: “‘But that might work. I think we can do that.’”
In case you haven’t seen the 2007 movie in a while, I Am Legend features Smith’s Robert Neville as the last man in New York City after a virus has wiped out humanity, turning them into vampire mutants. The film ends with Neville heroically sacrificing himself so that a woman and child can escape with the cure, which raises a lot of questions about the sequel: Does Neville appear in flashbacks? Or maybe some long-lost video diary? Who does Jordan play, and is he directly related to Neville? Is this really a sequel/continuation or does the story take place at the same time as the first film? Those are just a few of the many questions this project has inspired.
The actor is currently in full awards season mode as one of the Best Actor Oscar frontrunners for his performance as Richard Williams in King Richard. He’s already won at the African American Film Critics Association Awards, Black Reel Awards, NAACP Image Awards, National Board of Review, SAG Awards, and is also nominated at the BAFTAs and Critics Choice Movie Awards.
I’ve never been a big fan of horror movies, but I Am Legend does hit differently now. And after experiencing our own global pandemic, it will be interesting to see how much real-life plays into the sequel.