Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan reportedly are set to team up on the big screen for the very first time for a sequel to the 2007 movie, I Am Legend.
Despite receiving mixed reviews at the time, I Am Legend has amassed a dedicated fanbase since its release nearly 15 years ago. Directed by Francis Lawrence, the movie is loosely based on Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name, and sees Will Smith star as US Army virologist Robert Neville.
After an attempt to cure cancer turns the majority of the world's population into vampire-like cannibalistic mutants called Darkseekers, Neville fights to find a cure for the virus and those who have been infected.
...Maybe not the best time in human history to have this movie's plot be brought to our attention, but anyway.
Now, in a shared Instagram post, both Smith, 53, and Jordan, 35, have teased the release of the sequel, sharing an image of the overgrown and abandoned New York City, as depicted in the first movie.
Deadline has also reported that both Smith and Jordan will be teaming up for the movie as both "stars and producers".
The movie-focused outlet has also reported that Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman - who adapted Matheson’s novel for the 2007 movie - is also returning to write the sequel and join Smith and Jordan as a producer.
I'll now be discussing spoilers from the first movie - so if you haven't seen it, you may want to click off.
However, news of Smith's on-screen return for the movie has left a few fans scratching their heads, as Smith's character appeared to die at the end of the first movie.
You see, after being confronted by the "alpha" Darkseeker and a mob of the infected, Neville is forced to sacrifice himself in order to let two fellow survivors escape to safety.
Check out the movie's original and alternate endings below:Now, considering he achieved this with a hand grenade in a confined space, it's hard to believe Smith's character escaped with just a grazed knee.
Interestingly enough, the DVD release of the movie also included the alternate ending, which many fans argued was considerably better than the original.
In the alternate ending, rather than die a "heroic" death against the mutants, Neville instead realized that he had become the proverbial monster after recognizing that he has caused the deaths of countless Darkseekers through his experiments. Overcome with guilt, he agrees to release his female subject back to the Alpha and ceases all experiments.
As one Twitter user writes: "I will never get over I am Legend legitimately has [an] alternative ending that captures the AMAZING morally nuanced ending of the novel… only to cut it so Will Smith doesn’t have to be seen as a monster and gets to die a heroic death."
Seeing as Smith is set to reprise his role as Neville, some Twitter users have pondered the possibility of the sequel adopting the original movie's alternate ending, and continuing the story from there:
Of course, Smith could just appear in the movie via flashbacks or the video diary he kept in the first movie.
Either way, with the original grossing $585.4 million worldwide, it's safe to say that a second chapter of this fascinating story will be welcomed by fans.
