I Am Legend 2 has the opportunity to fix Will Smith's worst first movie moment: the euthanization of his dog, Sam. It has been 15 years since the 2007 post-apocalyptic film I Am Legend was released. Despite the film's financial success, Warner Bros. never released a sequel or a prequel to the adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend. Before the 2007 adaptation, the novel had been adapted two times, once in 1964 with Vincent Price and another in 1972 with the title The Omega Man. In all three adaptations, Robert Neville was a genius scientist who attempted to find a cure for an illness that turned people into vampiric creatures called Darkseekers. However, Warner Bros. learned that it is better late than never, and I Am Legend 2 is finally in the works with Will Smith returning.

Sam's death was inspired by a passage in the 1954 novel where Robert Neville found a sick stray dog and tried to save its life. He took the dog into his home, but despite his best efforts, the dog died a week later. The dog's death added to the novel's overall theme of hopelessness. While in the 2007 film I Am Legend, Sam was a family pet that served as a companion for Neville. Samantha, played by a German Shephard named Abbey, was more than a pet to audiences but Neville's partner in crime.

Related: I Am Legend Originally Made The Heartbreaking Dog Story Even Darker

In one of the worst movie moments, Neville has to euthanize Sam after she is bit by a pack of Darkseeker dogs. In the novel, Neville's inability to save the stray was heartbreaking but to watch Will Smith strangle man's best friend was horrific. While the upcoming sequel I Am Legend 2 may not be able to resurrect the loveable pup, the sequel could provide Neville with another dog to keep him company.  Following the novel, Neville could find a stray dog wandering the abandoned streets of New York. Instead of the dog dying a week later, Neville would be able to nurse the dog back to health. The movie could even provide a minor time skip to show how the nervous stray turned into a companion worthy of an action thriller. Since the film famously changed the ending to the classic novel, there can be hope for changing the dog's fate too.

Will Smith looking concerned on the ground as his dog stands by him in I Am Legend.

A new dog may provide a sense of hope that the original 2007 film lacked; in both endings, the Darkseekers still overrun the world. While in the I Am Legend's theatrical ending, Neville found a cure that promised a better future for the surviving characters, Anna and Ethan, the novel had a much bleaker ending. By the end of the novel, Neville learned that he was the monster who was hunting an advanced society. The Darkseekers had become the next step in human evolution.

The alternate ending showed Neville learning that he had been the villain all along. Instead of a big explosion resulting in the death of Neville and many Darkseekers, the alternate ending kept Neville alive to deal with the consequences of his actions which reflected the message of the novel. If I Am Legend's alternate ending had stayed in place, Sam's death would've been more heartbreaking with the knowledge that Neville wouldn't have had to put his friend down. Instead, the two could've embraced the new change together. Perhaps, I Am Legend 2's introduction to a new furry companion can right this cinematic wrong.

Sam's violent end upset many moviegoers, but this wasn't the first time that audiences rejected an animal's death in a horror movie. While animal deaths are usually used as a warning in horror films, the dead animal trope can be predictable and distance the audience from the story. Since the beginning of the dead animal trope, moviegoers have withstood horrific violence to human characters but become enraged by a dead pet. I Am Legend 2 provides an opportunity to give Neville a new animal companion. Perhaps, Neville can finally do what he couldn't do in the novel: save a stray.

Next: How I Am Legend 2 Can Bring Back Will Smith's Neville (Without Resurrecting Him)