Will Smith paid a sweet tribute to the iconic dog from 2007 film I am Legend this week.
Marking National Pet Day, the Oscar winning actor, 55, shared a video of German Shepherd Abbey – who played the loyal Sam in the hit film – captioned: ‘The goodness girl.'
The video showed behind-the-scenes footage of the pair filming I Am Legend – with Abbey affectionately cuddling Smith before they shot high-octane action scenes.
The Francis Lawrence-directed movie centered on the story of the scientist and last human survivor of a plague.
In the film, Will's character (Dr Robert Neville) seeks to reverse the effects of the virus by using his own immune blood.
Will Smith paid a sweet tribute to the iconic dog from 2007 film I am Legend this week (pictured as Robert Neville with Abbey as dog Sam)
Marking National Pet Day, the Oscar winning actor, 55 , shared a video of German Shepherd Abbey – who played the loyal Sam in the hit film – captioned: ‘The goodness girl'
The film opens with Smith hunting deer in the streets with Sam, and works in his improvised laboratory to find a cure for the virus that destroyed New York City, and possibly the world.
Neville's beloved dog and only companion Sam meets a tragic end when she is infected by Alpha Male Darkseeker's dogs while defending him – leading to a tearful Neville resorting to suffocating her to stop her killing him.
Fans inundated the post with comments on Sam, with one writing: ‘The last time I cried at a movie was when Samantha died.'
Another wrote: ‘The times I have cried watching this movie!' while a third typed: ‘when sam died i cried so much.'
Others wrote: ‘Favourite film and dog Sam' and ‘Her dying was one the worst parts of the movie…I cried so hard.'
In real life Abbey has lived a long and healthy life, with the I Am Legend official social media confirming she turned 16 in 2022.
Last year the sequel to I Am Legend was confirmed with Smith set to star in the film alongside Michael B. Jordan.
Return: The follow-up dystopian picture would see The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air star Will, 54, return to his role as Robert Neville, working to cure a zombie apocalypse in New York
Fans inundated the post with comments on Sam, with one writing: ‘The last time I cried at a movie was when Samantha died'
Producer Akiva Goldsman revealed that work has begun on the second film to the sci-fi/horror blockbuster.
The follow-up dystopian picture would see The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air star Will return to his role as Robert Neville, working to cure a zombie apocalypse in New York.
Speaking to Deadline, Hollywood producer Goldsman explained that the highly-anticipated second film will ‘trace back to the original Matheson book' and return to the New York post-apocalyptic scene a ‘few decades later than the first'.
Akiva told the publication: ‘We're starting with two projects that are fun and very much Warners; the sequel to I Am Legend, with Will and Michael B. Jordan, and the sequel to Constantine with Keanu Reeves that Francis Lawrence is going to direct.'
It is not clear on what role Michael B. Jordan will play in the second film, as Goldsman, who has a production company called Weed Road Pictures at Warner Bros, was keeping that part of the storyline under wraps.
In real life Abbey has lived a long and healthy life, with the I Am Legend official social media confirming she turned 16 in 2022
I Am Legend was a huge hit grossing nearly $600million at the box office – with a sequel confirmed last year
He explained of the link between I Am Legend 2 and The Last Of Us, which he said he is ‘obsessed with'.
‘I'm obsessed with The Last Of Us, where we see the world just post-apocalypse but 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. We trace back to the original Matheson book, and the alternate ending as opposed to the released ending in the original film.'
