“I Am Legend” Prequel With Smith

Warner Bros. has plans to create a prequel to its moderately successful film “I Am Legend,” will Will Smith reprising his role as scientific researcher Doctor Robert Neville. Also tapped is Francis Lawrence returning to helm the second feature film. The prequel will chronicle the final days of humanity in New York before a man-made virus caused a plague that left Smith’s character the lone survivor among a mutated mob in the city, accoring to Variety.

The idea for the prequel comes from producers Will Smith, Akiva Goldsman, James Lassiter and director Francis Lawrence. D.B. Weiss (“Kashmir,” “A Song of Ice and Fire,” “The Game”) will write the script.

Making a prequel was the only way to extend a franchise that grossed $584 million worldwide for Warner Bros. and keep Smith in the lead role. His character was killed in the first film, after extracting a potential cure for the virus for the scattered survivors.