Will Smith was undoubtedly one of the best things about I Am Legend, the post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller that followed the lone New York City survivor (Smith) in search of a cure for the plague that has killed off most of humanity. As such, hearing that a reboot of the Warner Bros. property is now in the works without Smith at its center makes my response to the news a bit muted, though it probably would have been anyways even with him involved now that we’re seven years removed from the film and the post-apocalyptic movies keep on rolling in.
Directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games), the 2007 film grossed $585 million worldwide, making a franchise desirable. But the movie’s ending wasn’t exactly sequel-friendly, which I appreciate to an extent, and, despite a long-standing attempt at a prequel, a franchise never got off the ground.
At least not until now, as Warner Bros. has taken a spec script titled A Garden at the End of the World and asked for a second draft from newcomer Gary Graham, who wrote the original draft Warner acquired back in April. Similar in themes and mythology to I Am Legend, the story will be re-worked by Graham to fit more squarely into the world inhabited my Will Smith in the original film. The Deadline article notes that Graham used to work at a midtown Manhattan Apple Store, which isn’t entirely relevant to the story (save for the New York setting), but he seems to be doing alright so far after transitioning into screenwriting.
The original producers of I Am Legend are on board for the reboot, but the film is still in early development stages so it would seem any other developments are a little ways off. However, seeing as Will Smith won’t be involved with the franchise, it’s pretty clear this new installment will need to move away from my proposed title of I Am Still Legend to something more along the lines of I Am Legend Too.
