The movie that almost was – Ridley Scott’s I Am Legend

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

With so many epic and awesome movies at our disposal, how could we ever lament not having more? Well, that's what we explore in our series, The Movie That Almost Was, where we take a look at films that got deep into the planning, pre-production, and sometimes actual production, only to never see the light of day. What happened? What went wrong? Are we better or worse off without it?

In this latest episode, we took a look at what might have been if Ridley Scott had the chance to take on I AM LEGEND. The post-apocalyptic thriller is based on the popular novel of the same name by Richard Matheson and this take is the third feature-film adaptation of the novel following 1964's THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and 1971's THE OMEGA MAN. Before we got the 2007 version starring Will Smith and directed by Francis Lawrence, Ridley Scott was on board as director in early 1997 and Arnold Schwarzenegger was tapped for the lead role of Robert Neville. What might have been if Scott got to do his mix of sci-fi and psychological thriller? That's what we explore right here!