I Am Legend's Alternate Ending Explained: What Happens & Why It Was Cut
Will Smith's 2007 box office hit I Am Legend had an ending that divided audiences, but the I Am Legend alternate ending exists, and it does more justice to the book. Published in 1954, acclaimed author Richard Matheson's novelI Am Legend is one of the most highly regarded works of apocalyptic fiction to date. As such, it's no surprise that the book has been adapted for the big screen, in this case, three different times.
The first adaptation came a decade after I Am Legend's publication, in 1964. Horror legend Vincent Price starred in the film, titled The Last Man on Earth. In 1971, Charlton Heston took the lead in the second adaptation, titled The Omega Man. Finally, in 2007, Will Smith fronted I Am Legend, the most critically and commercially successful adaptation of Matheson's book yet. Oddly enough, though, none of the three films is really a satisfying adaptation of the text, as each differs significantly from the source material. For one, while Robert Neville in the book is far from an expert on the plague that's destroyed humanity, the Neville in every film version has been a genius scientist capable of devising a cure.
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Another big part of theI Am Legend book that's never been adapted faithfully is its ending, which sees Neville die by suicide rather than be executed for his apparent crimes. It turns out those changed into vampire-like creatures by the plague have formed their own society and are still mostly intelligent, and view Neville as a monster, a kind of boogeyman they fear and loathe due to his killing of their species. The Will Smith I Am Legend once again fails to replicate this ending, but its alternate conclusion is much closer to
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