I Am Legend 2 Cast, Plot Possibilities, Writer And More Details

Unless you're watching the "Fast and the Furious" franchise, when movie characters die, they generally tend to stay dead. Sure, they might come back as a ghost (a la "Star Wars") or we might see them in a flashback (ABC's "Lost"), but creators rarely decide to just ignore the character's death and pretend like nothing ever happened.

But that's exactly what's going down in "I Am Legend 2," as Will Smith will play Robert Neville ... even though he died in the 2007 movie. In the film's theatrical ending, Neville heroically sacrifices his life to protect both his two human compatriots and a newly invented cure that could heal the infected Darkseekers. So how exactly is he coming back to life?

Well, there is an alternate ending where Neville actually survives and makes a remarkable discovery about the infected. During this version of events, Neville realizes the Darkseekers aren't just mindless monsters. They actually have thoughts and feelings, and the reason they've broken into his compound is to save the Darkseeker that Neville has captured and is currently running experiments on.

Similar to Richard Matheson's novel, Neville then realizes he's basically a monster to the Darkseekers — a "legend," if you will — and this revelation leads Neville to hand over the captive Darkseeker. Satisfied, the rest of her kind take her and go, with Neville and his allies leaving New York to search for other survivors. So "I Am Legend 2" will be following this version of events, and that's pretty great news for Will Smith fans.