Michael B. Jordan's role in I Am Legend 2 has yet to be confirmed, but some hints from the book could indicate that he will be joining the ranks of the Darkseekers in the upcoming sequel film. The movie will follow the alternate ending of its predecessor, in which Will Smith's character, Robert Neville, discovered that the zombie/vampire-like Darkseekers were capable of love and connection. This ending was a little more like the original I Am Legend book and allows for far more opportunities for the Darkseekers in I Am Legend 2.
The idea of an I Am Legend sequel has been part of the conversation for several years, but the knowledge that Jordan would be joining Smith has piqued the interest of many. Jordan's career has been developing rapidly with the success of the Black Panther and Creed movies - so any project he is associated with is bound to draw attention. This is especially true for I Am Legend 2, where the actor's role in a post-apocalyptic world is one that Smith said (via ET) initially drew him back to his old part as Dr. Robert Neville.
I Am Legend 2 Theory: Michael B. Jordan Will Be A Darkseeker
The I Am Legend film producer and writer Akiva Goldsman has revealed (via Deadline) that the upcoming sequel will align more closely with the original novel by author Richard Matheson, which could provide some hints for Jordan's role in the movie. The book's premise was that Robert Neville became the last member of the human race, as it had been known. Everyone else had been infected with the virus and become a vampire-like creature called a Darkseeker in the I Am Legend movie. This is what made Neville a "legend."
So, if I Am Legend 2 follows a similar plot to the book and takes place several decades after the alternate ending of the original movie, Smith's Robert Neville will be the only truly human character left. This would make Jordan's mystery character one of the monstrous Darkseekers - and a potential antagonist in the film. Of course, there are many ways that the sequel could divert or align with the I Am Legend book, so anything could still go. However, given the book's themes, a Darkseeker character for Jordan could be valuable.
The "Vampires" In The I Am Legend Book Looked Human
The central idea of the I Am Legend book was that Dr. Robert Neville had entirely overlooked the fact that his efforts to cure humanity were unwanted. As the only uninfected human left on Earth, he had become a minority, and the infected were beginning to develop their own advanced societies. To them, Neville was a monster who kidnapped their people, experimented on them, and ultimately killed them. This plot aligns reasonably well with the I Am Legend movie's alternate ending that the sequel will follow - but with a significant difference in the appearance of the monsters.
In the book, Neville fell in love with a woman who turned out to be a Darkseeker, though the book didn't use this term. This shows that the I Am Legend movie's bizarre-looking CGI zombies with inexplicably dislocated jaws did not reflect the appearance of those in the source material. If I Am Legend 2 observes a time jump to a point when the Darkseekers have evolved past their previous forms into more human-looking and intelligent beings, it could make Jordan's theorized role make a lot more sense.
Michael B. Jordan's Casting Could Redeem I Am Legend’s CGI Darkseekers
The idea of a prevalent actor like Jordan portraying a Darkseeker in I Am Legend 2 would be good news since it would mean a significant amount of attention put into the monster's design in the sequel. The original film was praised for its concept and Smith's performance when it was released in 2007, but the disappointing CGI monsters seemed to break the illusion of the film. This had a big part to play in the audience's disapproval of the I Am Legend alternate ending since it focused so much more on the "humanity" of the Darkseekers - which only made the poor computer animation all the cheesier.
Years later, and leagues of advancement in motion capture technology, I Am Legend 2 has the opportunity to blow audiences away with its Darkseekers, and the emotional alternate ending of the previous film sets this up perfectly. The use of the original book to build a new plot requires a far more evolved monster civilization that should make them more like actual characters than background noise. This would make Jordan a perfect casting opportunity to help audiences connect more with I Am Legend 2's new and improved Darkseekers