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For the past four years there hasn't been much movement on the I Am Legend prequel front. Now there appears to be something happening, in the form of a deal that sees producer Akiva Goldsman and Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment agree to work on developing another I Am Legend movie.

But here's the thing: the work that's about to be done may not necessarily be for a prequel -- even though the door is open for Will Smith's character to star in this new I Am Legend movie. Yes, Smith's Robert Neville died at the conclusion of the 2007 movie -- but stranger things have happened in Hollywood for sequels.

Arash Amiel is writing the script for the project.

Straight from director Francis Lawrence's own mouth comes his reasons for why he would want to go back before the events depicted in I Am Legend:

"I have my beliefs on what was interesting about the first story and what was not so interesting about the first story, and I think that to go back, there has to be a truly viable reason to go back into that world that I think interested everybody, so that's the real struggle," Lawrence said at the press junket for Kings, his upcoming NBC limited series (and as reported by Sci Fi Wire.) "The struggle is to find a story that brings us back in a way that's hopefully just as interesting as the first time around."

OK, so no more beating around the bush: will he or won't he direct the prequel? "Yeah, if we figure out the story, I'm absolutely involved in the prequel. ... We've had conversations. The three of us, Will and Akiva and I, have sat down and talked, and there's a writer that's working on it right now. So we came up with the bones of a story, and now we're waiting to see a script."

At the press junket for Seven Pounds Steve Weintraub from Collider asked Will Smith about the recent rumor that the I Am Legend prequel was in fact a sequel. Not so said Mr. Smith:

"We have a fantastic prequel idea...we're still trying to work through a couple of bumps in the story. It's essentially the fall of the last city -- the last stand of Manhattan. The movie would be...within the body of the movie D.C. and then Manhattan would fall as the last city. It’s a really cool idea trying to figure it out…there’s a reason why we have to take a small band and we have to get into D.C. So we have to make our way from New York to D.C. and then back to New York."

Ain't It Cool News ran with a scoop that states the I Am Legend prequel is now supposedly a sequel. Sequel? Yes, and here's what their source told them:

"Smith is actually the one who developed the initial story. It took place several years before the original film and there were still pockets of survivors and the story centered around Smith interacting, bonding, and ultimately failing to save them. For months this was the story. Warner's didn't much care for it and Smith and Weiss eventually came on board and all parties agreed to change things up. Well this change is pretty insane, the film is no longer a prequel, it's a fucking sequel!"

But as to what the storyline for this sequel might be, not a word was said.

Warner Bros. is forging ahead on developing a prequel movie to I Am Legend and Will Smith is being included in it. Not only will Smith have a hand in the new film's development through his production company Overbrook Entertainment but he will also star in it since it's set before his character's demise at the conclusion of the first movie. Also returning for the project is I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence and producers Akiva Goldsman and James Lassiter. Screenwriter D.B. Weiss will pen the story based on an idea hashed out by Smith, Goldsman, Lassiter and Lawrence that will see Smith's character of Dr. Robert Neville experience firsthand the fall of mankind and how he became the last man in New York City.

There is no ETA date for the prequel. Weiss is currently working on another writing assignment and Warner Bros. hasn't even hinted at when we could expect to see the movie arrive in theaters.