I Am Legend 2 is in the works, and audiences may find that the zombies - or Darkseekers as they are referred to in the film - will look entirely different than they did in the first movie. Filmmaker Akiva Goldsman has confirmed that the film will see the return of Will Smith as protagonist Robert Neville, and that actor Michael B. Jordan will be joining the cast in an unknown role. This is certainly exciting news, but it was the other tidbits that Goldsman revealed that hint at significant changes for the upcoming film.
In an interview with Deadline, Goldsman explained that I Am Legend 2 would follow the events of I Am Legend's alternate ending. In this version, Robert Neville realized that the monsters weren't as mindless as he had believed, gave their leader back his lover, whom Neville had been experimenting on, and left New York City. I Am Legend 2 will be picking up 20 to 30 years after these events - and Goldsman stated that the plot would adhere much more to the novel the original film had been based on. This indicates that when Will Smith returns for the sequel, the world will look different from the one audiences remember.
I Am Legend 2 Will Draw More Inspiration From The Book
I Am Legend was based on a book by the same name authored by science-fiction writer Richard Matheson. The plot followed a man named Robert Neville, who believed himself to be the last of civilization after a vampire (not zombie) pandemic. There were two types of infected - those who were essentially reanimated corpses (more like zombies) and those who were technically living (more like vampires). Neville dedicated his life as the only person with immunity to killing both types of monsters as they slept during the day and captured many alive to study in his lab. This began a sort of war between himself and the vampires.
Eventually, Neville realized with great remorse that the vampire-like infected humans had begun to organize into advanced social groups. Though Neville's book ending is still very different from the I Am Legend alternate movie ending, it still followed the idea that he had been wrong to kill and experiment on the vampires. Since I Am Legend 2 is supposed to adhere more closely to the book version of events, it can be assumed that Will Smith's version of Neville will have much more to learn about the society of "zombies" he had been killing in the first movie.
The Zombies From I Am Legend Will Have Changed After The Time Jump
The reveal from Goldsman that I Am Legend 2 will take place several decades after the first movie's events hints that the Darkseekers will have had plenty of time to evolve into the society described in the book. In the film's alternate ending, Neville realized that the monsters, while violent and cannibalistic, were capable of love and complex planning. Still, he and Anna set off with the cure he had created in hopes of setting the world right again. However, if it turns out in the sequel that the zombies don't want to be cured and that uninfected humans are the minority, it could make for a significant conflict.
The I Am Legend book only spanned over a few years, so the idea of how the zombie/vampire society would have evolved over decades was never explored. Therefore, it's difficult to guess what the monsters will look like when they return in I Am Legend 2. Nonetheless, if the sequel focuses on the civilized potential of this new society, it can be assumed that they will look a little less wild than previously seen. Perhaps, as in the book, there will be several versions of the infected humans, varying from feral and violent to those who pass as the uninfected.
Why Different Zombies Can Be Good For I Am Legend 2
Ultimately, the reveal that I Am Legend 2 will follow the book more closely and take place decades after the events of I Am Legend is good news. First, though some preferred the film's original ending because of the emotional impact of Neville's sacrifice, the alternate ending that made the zombies more human has much more potential for deeper exploration (which means a more exciting sequel). Also, evolved zombies allow the filmmakers a fresh start on their design for the monsters since the CGI zombies with the oddly disconnected jaws left plenty of room for improvement.
However, the biggest benefit to an evolved society of zombies, especially those that can pretend to be uninfected humans like in the I Am Legend book, is that there is plenty of room for surprises. A vampire woman deceived Robert Neville in the book, so maybe this could happen in the I Am Legend sequel movie as well. It's still a mystery what role actor Michael B. Jordan will play in the upcoming film - so perhaps he will end up being one of the infected. At this point, anything is possible, and the hints of I Am Legend 2's premise leave the door wide open for an exciting and thought-provoking plot.