Fans were excited to learn over the weekend that the upcoming I Am Legend sequel will feature Will Smith, who starred in the original blockbuster. However, the 53-year-old recently revealed, it was his co-star-to-be Michael B. Jordan who convinced him to take on the role.

Speaking with Entertainment Tonight earlier this week, Smith admitted that, at first, he wasn’t interested in filming a sequel to his 2007 hit.

“It was one of those ones I was gonna leave alone,” he explained to the outlet.

However, Smith said he changed his mind after hearing the intriguing “idea” for the movie’s sequel, which he said Jordan helped to create.

“… That might work,” he recalled thinking about the proposed storyline. “… I can’t talk about it yet, but it’s a really, really cool concept and he (Jordan) was a part of creating the idea.”

As reported by REVOLT, Smith, who portrayed Robert Neville in the original I Am Legend; will star opposite Jordan in the upcoming sequel. The film will mark the two actors’ first time working together.

Smith is set to co-produce the I Am Legend sequel alongside Jordan’s Outlier Society company and Jon Mone of Westbrook Studios. According to Deadline, James Lassiter will executive produce the film and Akiva Goldsman, who penned the original script, will write the screenplay. At the time of publishing, no director for the project has been announced.

Smith recently won his first-ever Screen Actors Guild Award for his starring role as Venus and Serena Williams’ father, Richard Williams, in King Richard.

The Philadelphia native is also currently nominated for an Oscar for the film and, for the second time in their careers, he and his “mentor” Denzel Washington will compete against each other in the Best Actor category. The last time they were simultaneously nominated was in 2001, when Washington ultimately beat out Smith for his starring role in Training Day.

Speaking about being nominated alongside Washington, Smith said, “I just hope we’re going to need a tiebreaker.”