Creed II director Steven Caple Jr has confirmed he’s directing I Am Legend 2 – a sequel to a film that came out almost 20 years ago. If I Am Legend were a Disney film, it probably would have had a sequel and a reboot by now. But instead, the 2007 sci-fi horror is at ... I Am Legend 2 is still happening, seemingly; Steven Caple Jr confirms he’s directing
Creed II director Steven Caple Jr has confirmed he’s directing I Am Legend 2 – a sequel to a film that came out almost 20 years ago.
If I Am Legend were a Disney film, it probably would have had a sequel and a reboot by now. But instead, the 2007 sci-fi horror is at Warner Bros, where there has been years of talk about a direct sequel, but no actual film.
Filmmaker Steven Caple Jr has popped up to remind us that the sequel is still in the works, though, and has confirmed an earlier report that he’s set to direct it.
This snippet of news comes to us from Collider, who spoke to Caple Jr about his latest project – a new version of the revenge thriller Man On Fire for Netflix. It’s the latest take on the 1980 novel, previously adapted in 1987 and 2004 – the latter, directed by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington, being the most celebrated. Caple Jr has turned it into a TV series, this time starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
Anyway, back to I Am Legend 2, which is quite an odd project when you really dig into it. It’s long been said that it’ll star Will Smith, whose character (spoiler alert) didn’t live to see the end credits in the original film – at least in the cinema version. Instead, returning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman has said that he’ll be following I Am Legend’s alternate ending, which will allow Smith’s protagonist, Robert Neville, to appear in the sequel.
Goldsman will presumably have to write an opening to I Am Legend 2 that explains all this, since most audiences won’t be familiar with that alternate ending, which only appeared on certain editions of the original film’s home release.
I Am Legend 2 will also star Michael B Jordan, who previously worked with Caple Jr on Creed II, a sequel to Rocky IV. Caple Jr’s other major film, besides his directorial debut The Land, was 2023’s Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts, a sequel to Bumblebee.
Will it ever happen, though? I Am Legend 2's situation feels a lot like Paramount’s World War Z 2 – a sequel that has been in the works for years on end (13 and counting in WWZ2′s case) with little to show for it besides a few blog posts like this one.
Paramount insists that WWZ2 will still happen; Warner Bros still seems gung-ho about I Am Legend 2. But these are films whose originals are rapidly vanishing in history’s rear view mirror. Warner Bros is about to be eaten alive by Paramount; will the latter want two legacy sequels, both about hordes of undead ghouls, on its docket?
Fittingly, both projects are essentially zombie sequels: not dead, but still trudging along.
