It’s been over a decade since Will Smith‘s 2007 hit I Am Legend was released into theaters, and as we recently learned, Warner Bros. is actively developing a fresh new sequel.

Will Smith is returning for the next chapter as star and producer. He’ll be joined on screen by Black Panther‘s Michael B. Jordan, who will also produce the upcoming film.

Akiva Goldsman, who adapted Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel back in 2007, is also returning to write the follow-up. Speaking with Deadline this week, Goldsman explains how a sequel to I Am Legend starring Will Smith is even possible all these years later. As you may recall, the first movie ends with Smith’s character saving the cure but dying in the process.

In the alternate ending, however, Smith’s Dr. Robert Neville lives to fight another day.

“This will start a few decades later than the first,” Goldsman explains. “I’m obsessed with The Last of Us, where we see the world just post-apocalypse but also after a 20-30-year lapse. You see how the earth reclaims the world, and there’s something beautiful in the question of, as man steps away from being the primary tenant, what happens? That will be especially visual in New York. I don’t know if they’ll climb up to the empire state building, but the possibilities are endless.”

He adds, “We trace back to the original Matheson book, and the alternate ending as opposed to the released ending in the original film. 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.”

Along with the upcoming sequel to Constantine starring Keanu Reeves, I Am Legend‘s years-later sequel is one of WB’s top priorities as they re-team with Goldsman’s company.