Writer/producer Akiva Goldsman says that he’s still very much trying to get a sequel to 2017’s “I Am Legend” off the ground, but it’s difficult.
Earlier this year came the news that “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” and “Creed II” filmmaker Steven Caple Jr. had been set to direct the project which was in the works at Warner Bros. Pictures.
Based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel of the same name, Will Smith starred in the 2007 film as Robert Neville, a scientist living in a world in which a disease turned humans into zombie-like creatures and left him as one of the world’s few survivors.
For at least five years, there’s been talk of the original film’s star Will Smith and recent Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan reportedly trying to team up for the film, which is expected to follow the alternate ending on the home video release as canon – in that version, Smith’s character survives.
In an interview with Radio Times this week, Goldsman explains why the project has stalled:
“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.”
He also confirms one thing from the original film that will not be happening in the sequel – the death of the dog:
“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.”
Smith and Jordan are also producing the feature.
