I Am Legend‘s theatrical and alternate endings are often the topic of web discussion, especially which version best serves the source material. As well as all the actions and accuracy issues, Samantha, the female German shepherd who is famous as the I Am Legend Dog, is also worth revisiting.
Samantha is the only true living breathing companion Robert Neville has for nearly 30 minutes of the movie. On the streets, there are deer and a few lions, as well as infected rats, but Sam is a friend and family member. With the exception of the flashbacks depicting the early phase of the zombie pandemic and the subsequent chaos in NYC, the first present-day part of the film focuses entirely on Sam and Neville. It’s refreshing to see her in this series, even if her appearance doesn’t conform to the source material, but sadly her role ends too soon. Sam’s role ends on Day 1,001 of the pandemic, according to the film’s timeline. It is revealed in a flashback scene that Sam has always been part of the Neville family when Neville gives a farewell speech to his wife and daughter. When Marley was a child, she wanted a puppy as a companion for her father.
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Later in the film Neville uses a trap to capture a female Darkseeker. The next day, a male Darkseeker uses a clever trick to lure Neville into the same trap. The sequence of events that lead to Sam’s injury and infection begins with Neville hanging upside down in the open. As soon as Neville walks into the trap, the mechanism throws his head down to the ground and renders him unconscious. Throughout the day, Sam tries to wake him up by his side.
Although Neville escapes the trap just before dark, he is injured in the leg and cannot run. It is now too late to make it back to the car and escape from the nocturnal Darkseekers. When the sunlight disappears, three infected large dogs charge forward. One is killed instantly by Neville, while Sam is battling against another. Even though Sam is able to defeat an infected beast, another is now standing on top of Neville. Sam gets bitten again after launching herself toward the attacking dog. Sam and Neville barely survive. She suffers multiple bite wounds and is unable to stand up.
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As soon as Neville returns home, he rushes Sam to the underground lab for treatment. Despite giving her an injection of serum, he is unable to prevent the infection from spreading. Neville has no choice but to end Sam’s suffering when she develops symptoms of aggressive mutation. Sam is buried in Central Park during daylight the following day.
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In the end, I Am Legend is a science-fiction film. Samantha is not wandering around a post-apocalyptic NYC. The German Shepherd played by Abbey is just a fictional character. According to several online sources (dated 2022/23), Abbey is still alive and enjoying her retirement days with her family in California. For most of her life, Abbey has been under the care of Steve Barrens – an animal trainer with more than three decades of experience.
In the beginning of the production, Barrens recognized that Abbey had a demanding role in Samantha. At the time, she was only about 3 years old and didn’t even know her own name. Abbey and Will Smith (the actor portraying Robert Neville in the film) also had a difficult start. She barked at him as soon as he walked up. Abbey trained for only three weeks before she was ready to play Samantha. It took Smith six months to earn her respect, and the shoot was trouble-free. According to several online reports, Abbey is now 18 years old and barely able to walk or hear. Despite this, she enjoys her life and spends every day with Barren’s daughter and her children.
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