Michael B. Jordan, known for his dynamic performances in films like “Black Panther” and “Creed,” will portray a new protagonist navigating the remnants of civilization. Jordan’s casting brings a fresh perspective to the franchise, promising to deliver the intensity and emotional depth that fans have come to expect. While Jordan’s involvement is confirmed, the question on everyone’s mind is whether Will Smith, who starred as Dr. Robert Neville in the original film, will make an appearance. Smith’s portrayal of the lone survivor battling both infected creatures and his own isolation was pivotal to the film’s success. However, details about his potential return remain shrouded in mystery.

Will Smith is shedding light on his I Am Legend sequel he’s developing with Michael B. Jordan.

“We had a couple weeks together about a month ago. I think it’s looking good,” the Bad Boys: Ride or Die star told Entertainment Tonight. “[We have some] really solid ideas… I think we’re going to make it on screen together.” Jordan is “the truth,” Smith added of the Black Panther and Creed star, “so I would love to do that.”

Based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel, the 2007 post-apocalyptic thriller starred Smith as virologist Robert Neville, seemingly the last man on Earth. The sole survivor of a man-made plague and immune to the virus that turned the infected into the vampire-like Darkseekers, Neville successfully developed a cure, but died in the film’s theatrical ending. However, the as-yet-untitled I Am Legend sequel will continue from the scrapped original ending included as an alternate ending on the DVD release. (In that ending, Smith’s character survived and became legend among the Darkseekers for his experiments on the living-infected.)

“You have to be a real I Am Legend buff to know this, but in the first, theatrical version, my character dies, but on the DVD there was an alternate version of the ending where my character lived,” Smith explained in December. “We are going with the mythology of the DVD version. I can’t tell you anything more, but Michael B. Jordan is in.”

Writer Akiva Goldsman, who penned the 2007 movie and the upcoming sequel for Warner Bros., said that I Am Legend 2 takes place “a few decades” post-outbreak in 2009 and the events of the first film in 2012.

“I’m obsessed with The Last of Us, where we see the world just post-apocalypse but also after a 20-30-year lapse,” Goldsman said in a 2023 interview. ” You see how the earth reclaims the world, and there’s something beautiful in the question of, as man steps away from being the primary tenant, what happens? That will be especially visual in New York. I don’t know if they’ll climb up to the Empire State Building, but the possibilities are endless.”

He continued: “We trace back to the original Matheson book, and the alternate ending as opposed to the released ending in the original film. What Matheson was talking about was that man’s time on the planet as the dominant species had come to an end. That’s a really interesting thing we’re going to get to explore. There will be a little more fidelity to the original text.”