Warner Bros. has been trying for years now to make a follow-up to 2007’s I Am Legend with Will Smith, a project that would appear to be negated by the seemingly insurmountable fact that [SPOILER ALERT FOR A FIVE-YEAR-OLD MOVIE, DESPITE KNOWING IN YOUR HEART THAT YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN’T BE READING NEWS ABOUT A POSSIBLE SEQUEL ANYWAY IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT, DON’T YOU THINK?] Will Smith exploded in the first one, therefore leaving Will Smith’s participation in another one, at best, somewhat dubious. But we say “seemingly insurmountable” because that movie also made a lot of money—the mother of invention—which has just inspired the studio, producer Akiva Goldsman, and Smith to close a new deal to expand on its adaptation of Richard Matheson’s novel, and get Smith right back out there, sassing the apocalypse.
Deadline reports that this new chapter in what is apparently the I Am Legend franchise now will be written by Arash Amel (who wrote the upcoming Grace Kelly biopic Grace Of Monaco). And despite earlier rumors, it is “not being called a prequel,” even though this seems like the most logical way to pick up the Will Smith pieces. It’s therefore possible that the sequel, like some fans, will pretend as though the DVD-only alternate ending was the actual ending, and just proceed from there. Or, considering we didn’t actually see him die, maybe the film will begin with Smith’s character emerging from the rubble of his lab, ready to “Aw hell no” another day? And hey, if we’re going that route, perhaps he will be pulled out of said rubble by a hardened young woman played by Willow Smith, revealing that Smith’s daughter somehow survived the helicopter crash, and together they become an unstoppable, adorable, occasionally singing-and-dancing team. After all, there are no limits to the imagination when it’s unfettered by logic, and motivated purely by an attempt to maximize a star’s market potential.