'I Am Legend 2' will star Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan. Here is how Smith's character will return — despite dying in the original.

• Will Smith will reprise his role as Dr. Robert Neville in a sequel to "I Am Legend."
• Smith will star alongside Michael B. Jordan in the movie.
• "I Am Legend 2" will rely more heavily on the original book the movie was based on.

Yes, you read that right: Will Smith will reprise his role as post-apocalyptic survivor Dr. Robert Neville in a sequel to 2007's "I Am Legend."

"I Am Legend" saw Smith play the sole survivor of an apocalypse that turns humans into seemingly mindless vampiric mutants, called Darkseekers.

Although Smith's hero was killed off at the end of the movie's theatrical cut, the actor was confirmed for the sequel back in March 2022. 

"Black Panther" and "Creed" star Michael B. Jordan is also set to star in and produce the sequel, and he's actually the reason why Smith signed on to return to the role.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight in March 2022, Smith said that he wasn't originally interested in coming back for a sequel until hearing Jordan's idea for the film.

"The idea came up. I can't talk about it yet. But it's a really, really cool concept, and he was a part of creating the idea," said Smith. "So it was one of those ones I was gonna leave alone, and then I heard the idea. I was like, 'That might work. I think we can do that.'"

But how exactly will Smith's Neville return in the movie?

'I Am Legend 2' will follow on from the alternate ending to 'I Am Legend'

Warner Bros. has been trying to get "I Am Legend 2" off the ground for years, but it wasn't announced until March 2022. 

In February, producer and writer Akiva Goldsman confirmed that the sequel is going ahead in an interview with Deadline, and said that it'll take place "decades" after the 2007 movie.

Anyone who's seen the original film will remember that Smith's character sacrifices himself so that Anna (Alice Braga) and Ethan (Charlie Tahan) can escape from the Darkseekers.

But Goldsman said that the sequel will follow on from the alternate ending to "I Am Legend," rather than the ending fans saw in theaters.

In the alternate ending, which was included on the movie's DVD home release, Neville makes peace with the Darkseekers by giving them the female Darkseeker he had been experimenting on in order to find a cure for the mutants. He realizes that he's become a monster to them, and they are simply trying to defend themselves against him.

The final scenes show Neville leaving New York to find other survivors with Anna and Ethan. 

'I Am Legend 2' will be more faithful to the original book, which introduces a vampire civilization

As well as following on from the alternate ending, the new movie will be more faithful to the 1954 novel that "I Am Legend" is based on.

In author Richard Matheson's novel of the same name, Neville is actually up against more traditional vampires after a global pandemic has transformed humanity into blood-sucking creatures. And yes, they're even scared of garlic.

While it sounds silly, the story was also about what the world looked like after the human race was no longer in charge.

And this is what Goldsman is keen to look at in closer detail.

"What Matheson was talking about was that man's time on the planet as the dominant species had come to an end. That's a really interesting thing we're going to get to explore. There will be a little more fidelity to the original text," the writer and producer told Deadline in February.

Matheson's original story ends with Neville reckoning with the fact that the vampires have created their own society in the vacuum left behind after the death of humanity.

If Goldsman wants to do something new, it's possible that the Darkseekers will evolve and get smarter in the sequel, potentially building their own civilization, just like in the book.

'I Am Legend 2' release date

There is no word yet on when "I Am Legend 2" will hit theaters, especially given the ongoing Hollywood writers' and actors' strikes halting productions for the time being.