‘I Am Legend 2’ Has Officially Found Its Director [Exclusive]

Back in 2007, Will Smith wandered the wastelands in the post-apocalyptic zombie thriller I Am Legend. The movie was a hit with critics and audiences, and the film’s alternate (and canonical) ending has left the world of the film wide open for a potential follow-up. Now, almost 20 years later, a sequel is finally in the works, and Collider has exclusively learned who will be directing the project.

During the junket for Netflix’s Man on Fire remake, Collider’s Steve Weintraub spoke to Steven Caple Jr., who confirmed he is officially developing I Am Legend 2 for Warner Bros. in addition to a handful of projects for Paramount​​​. Caple made his directorial debut with the 2016 crime drama The Land before moving on to take the reins of the Creed franchise from Ryan Coogler, directing 2018’s Creed II. Caple then took on a big genre franchise in the form of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which he helmed for Paramount in 2023. Next up for Caple is the new Netflix adaptation of Man on Fire; Caple directed the first two episodes of the series and serves as an executive producer for the miniseries adaptation of the action thriller, which will premiere later this month.

What Do We Know About ‘I Am Legend 2’?

A loose adaptation of the classic 1954 Richard Matheson novel of the same name, which was previously filmed in 1964 as The Last Man on Earth (with Vincent Price) and in 1971 as The Omega Man (with Charlton Heston), I Am Legend starred Smith as Robert Neville, a virologist who believes himself to be the last human survivor of a virus that killed 90% of Earth’s population, and transformed the remainder into flesh-eating mutants. Back in 2024, it was reported that Caple was circling the project, as was star Michael B. Jordan, with Akiva Goldsman, who penned the original film, returning to write the script.

Smith is also reported to be involved in the project, which may confuse those who saw the film in theaters; in the version they saw, Robert Neville perished, sacrificing himself so fellow survivors Anna (Alice Braga) and Ethan (Charlie Tahan) could escape with a cure for the virus. However, in the film’s original ending, which was rejected by test audiences, Neville realizes that the infected are not the mindless monsters he believed them to be, and that they consider him to be a monster. Goldsman has revealed that the original ending, which is truer to the Matheson novel, will be considered canonical for I Am Legend 2.

I Am Legend 2 is in development; no release date has yet been announced. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.