For years, Warner Bros. has been exhausting itself trying to come up with ways to make a sequel to its 2007 hit I Am Legend, despite the unwillingness of star Will Smith to return for a follow-up. Now, it appears that the studio has finally found a way to turn the post-apocalyptic tale into a new franchise – thanks to a spec script written by a former Apple employee.
Gary Graham wrote A Garden At The End Of The World, described as a “sci-fi version of The Searchers,” while working at an Apple store in midtown Manhattan. After he posted the spec script on the Black List website, CAA and manager Brooklyn Weaver came across it and promptly signed him, sending the script around Hollywood.
Now, Warner Bros. will reportedly retrofit the script into an I Am Legend follow-up. Graham has been tapped to do rewrites in order to connect his original idea to the previous film, though how closely A Garden At The End Of The World will link with I Am Legend remains unclear. It has been revealed that Warner Bros. has no plans to again approach Smith about returning, though the original’s producers Akiva Goldsman, James Lassiter and Joby Harold are all involved, along with Weaver and Roy Lee.
As strange as the idea of retrofitting may seem, it’s not an uncommon practice in Hollywood. Jonathan Hensleigh’s script Simon Says was turned into Die Hard with a Vengeance, George Nolfi’s Honor Among Thieves became Ocean’s Twelve, and Adam Cozad’s Dubai was transformed into Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, to give a more recent example.
Whether Warner Bros. will have as much success turning A Garden At The End Of The World into I Am Legend 2 remains to be seen – but if there’s one thing we know, it’s that the studio won’t rest until something hits theaters.