I Am Legend 2 is finally in the works, and there are several leftover questions from I Am Legend that it will need to answer. It’s been over 15 years since Will Smith played Robert Neville, and audiences have been on the lookout for a sequel ever since. The movie ended ambiguously with two drastically different endings, neither of which entirely tied up the story of Earth’s fall to the Krippin virus. Now that I Am Legend 2 is finally going to be a reality and it has committed to one of the two possible endings, the continued story can finally be told.
I Am Legend 2 will follow the events of I Am Legend’s alternate ending, which aligns a little more closely with the story from the original I Am Legend novel by Richard Matheson. This ending saw Robert Neville discover that the zombie-like Darkseekers were still capable of human emotion and rationality. This entirely changed the way he saw them—and the way he understood how his experimenting on them had affected their society. This ending gave audiences much to think about, but it left a good deal open when Neville rode off into the sunset. Now, I Am Legend 2 can tie up those loose ends.
5. What Happened To The Vermont Settlement Mentioned In I Am Legend?
In I Am Legend, Smith’s Robert Neville believed himself to be the last man on Earth. However, when Anna and Ethan showed up, everything changed. The duo was traveling across the country to Vermont, where they had heard that there was a protected settlement full of people that would accept them. In the original ending, Anna was seen arriving in this community with Neville’s cure, proving that it had been real. However, I Am Legend’s alternate ending never definitively stated if Neville and Anna made it to the Vermont settlement in this version.
A community of survivors was never a reality in the original I Am Legend book. In fact, a significant point of Matheson’s story was that Neville was the only uninfected human left (even the woman who showed up turned out to be one of the vampires). Therefore, if I Am Legend 2 plans to better follow the events of the book, then it will need to answer what happened to the Vermont settlement or whether it had been real, to begin with.
4. Did Robert Neville’s Cure Actually Work?
Neville’s goal throughout I Am Legend was to create a cure for the Krippin virus and save the human race. This meant capturing the infected Darkseekers and testing how he could use his immunity to return the monsters to their regular form. Naturally, Neville wasn’t successful in this until just before the Darkseeker hoard made it into his home. In the alternate ending, Neville realized that the monsters didn’t want to be saved and that his experiments had killed their loved ones. But what happened next? Did Neville forget about his cure or try to recreate it?
If Neville had learned his lesson about experimenting on the Darkseekers in I Am Legend’s alternate ending, the cure should have been left behind when he departed New York. However, it’s difficult to believe he wouldn’t continue his research, especially if he ever came to the Vermont settlement. Perhaps Neville will be at odds with another human character over the ethics of experimenting on the Darkseekers, or maybe he did try to spread his cure, and it resulted in something even worse than the Darkseekers.
3.
How Intelligent Are The Darkseekers From I Am Legend’s Alternate Ending?
The intelligence of the vampires/zombies is one of the most ambiguous aspects of I Am Legend, especially since this wasn’t much of a factor in the film’s original ending. The Darkseekers set a trap for Neville using mannequins, revealing they had cognitive ability far above what the last man on Earth had expected. Still, even in the alternate ending, the Darkseekers seemed more feral than calculating.
Since I Am Legend ended shortly after revealing that there was more to the Darkseekers than it seemed, the full extent of their intelligence was never explored. Therefore, it’s still unclear if the monsters are as bright as their uninfected human counterparts. However, they could even be more intelligent, especially after the several decades that are meant to have passed between I Am Legend, and I Am Legend 2.
2.
Are The Darkseekers Good Or Bad In I Am Legend?
In I Am Legend, Neville assumed that the Darkseekers were unthinking, unfeeling, and therefore incapable of morality. They seemed to kill indiscriminately, firmly securing them as the story’s villains in his mind. However, once he learned they were capable of affection and romantic connection in the alternate ending, his remorseful glance at the images of all the Darkseekers he had killed implied that he realized he had been wrong.
In the I Am Legend book, Neville’s story ended with him realizing that he had been the monster in the eyes of the vampires. He saw that just like humanity is full of good and bad people, the same was true of the infected. Even with the alternate ending, the movie didn’t spend much time on this concept. Seeing the alpha reunited with the lover Neville had been experimenting on allowed audiences to develop compassion for I Am Legend’s zombies. However, it’s still unclear if they are the villains or not.
1.
How Is Robert Neville A ‘Legend’ In I Am Legend?
Matheson’s book placed a lot more meaning in the title of I Am Legend. The line was ultimately Robert Neville’s last thought before he died since he had realized that, as the last member of the uninfected human race, he was a legend in the eyes of the vampires. He would come into their homes and kill their loved ones like a boogie man, and once he was dead, he would be nothing but a frightening story.
The original ending for I Am Legend changed this meaning. Neville never realized that he was a villain, so he instead became a ‘legend’ by sacrificing his life so that a cure could make it out into the world. In the alternate ending, on the other hand, the meaning of the film’s title was entirely thrown out the window. Neville realized that he had been wrongfully experimenting on the Darkseekers, but since he didn’t die and was not the last uninfected human, he was by no means a ‘legend.’ Therefore, I Am Legend2 must restore the title’s significance and answer how Robert Neville’s story will officially end.
