How will a sequel work?

Back when originally released, I Am Legend had a planned prequel that had been fleshed out to possibly continue the tale of Will Smith’s character, who met an untimely end in the finale of the first film. Five years have passed since the release, and so far, nothing has come to fruition. However, today it seems the sci-fi thriller has found new life, as Warner Brothers has reached a deal that puts the long delayed second film finally into motion.

Deadline reports that the studio has reached a deal with Akiva Goldsman, the producer and writer of I Am Legend, to bring another installment to life in the very near future.

The full intention of the second installment, the article says, is to have Will Smith return in his lead role of Robert Neville, a scientist surviving an apocalypse in which a mysterious virus has either killed or transformed the human race into nocturnal savages. Neville eventually found a cure at the end of the first film, but risked his own life at the climax by assumedly dying in the midst of a horde of creatures attacking, passing on the cure for delivery in a mother-son duo that eventually makes it to a human survivor colony.

Despite previous information, the film will not be a prequel at all. But, further complicating the stability of the project, Smith won’t commit to the project until he reads the script from hired scribe Arash Amel. As to who exactly will be helming the sequel has yet to be determined, as original director Francis Lawrence’s feelings on the project at this point remains very much a mystery.

Easily, the biggest question is just who Smith’s character will appear in the second film. There’s the farfetched possibility that Neville could have just survived the explosion, or the fact they would be building off of the alternate ending, in which his character survived, and the cure never made it to the colony, leaving a large opening for a second film. However, with the film’s original ending very much embedded within the public consciousness, it’d be foolish to confuse audiences with the finale switcheroo.

We’ll keep you updated if the sequel ever decides to come to life, including just what the story will have in store as well.