'I Am Legend 2' Screenwriter Updates on Sequel With Will Smith

Is I Am Legend 2 still happening? Four years after its announcement, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman has provided a new update on the highly anticipated sequel and admitted that the project has faced some obstacles. In an exclusive interview with Radio Times, he stated: “We’re persisting. We’re trying. We’re doing everything we can to make it happen.”

Goldsman also made a promise to fans after the death of Sam, Robert Neville's dog in the first film: no dogs will be killed in the sequel. "I'm afraid I wouldn't survive the backlash if we killed another dog," the screenwriter joked.

The new film will be directed by Steven Caple Jr. and is expected to once again star Will Smith, as well as Michael B. Jordan . The story is also expected to consider the alternate ending of the first film, in which Robert Neville survives.

Everything you need to know about I Am Legend

Released in 2007, I Am Legend stars Will Smith as Robert Neville, a U.S. Army virologist who becomes one of the last survivors in a New York City devastated by a pandemic. While trying to find a cure using his own blood, he confronts infected creatures that emerged after a plague of human origin.

Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film also stars Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, and Salli Richardson-Whitfield . The production is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Matheson and grossed approximately $256 million in the United States alone.