Despite the fact that the movie was released more than ten years ago, it turns out that Abbey, the dog who portrayed Sam, is still alive and well.

I Am Legend was one of several movies that helped Will Smith establish his talent as a dramatic actor in the middle to late 2000s (forming a kind of canon alongside movies like The Pursuit of Happyness and Seven Pounds), but as we all know, the real star of the post-apocalyptic sci-fi picture was someone else.

The dog is correct.

The best parts of the movie were undoubtedly those starring Smith as Robert Neville and his devoted German Shepherd, Sam, who was given to him by his daughter when she was a puppy and perished in a helicopter accident. They were occasionally humorous, frequently poignant, and once very devastating.

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It might be helpful to know that Sam’s actual life story is far, much happier before you go into deep sadness at how that story ended (spoiler alert: not good, if you haven’t seen it).

Despite the fact that the movie was released more than ten years ago, it turns out that Abbey, the dog who portrayed Sam, is still alive and well.

Even better, she continues to reside with her trainer’s family, Steve Berens, who told LADbible that the 13-year-old dog is currently enjoying retirement with his daughter and her children.

“She’s older now and she doesn’t hear hardly anything,” he stated to us.

“But she’s still kicking, she still likes a ball and likes a bone.”

Since film executives asked him to locate and train a female German Shepherd for the role of Sam, Abbey has “always been part of the family,” according to Berens, the owner of Animals of Distinction, an animal training organization.

He clarified, saying, “That was a really short transition—we got her in the middle of July and went to camera around the end of September. She had no training background and was genuinely ignorant.

“She received direct training for those scenes in addition to a lot of the fundamentals required for film work.

“At first, it was somewhat stressful, but she really clicked with me. She is a wonderful dog who picked everything up quickly.”

Described as ‘wonderful’ by Berens, Abbey was also a huge fan of her human co-star.

Speaking about working with a lot of actors, he said: “A lot of actors view the animal as something that the audience will be looking at instead of them. They’re not that interested in the animal.

However, Will was nothing like that. He realized that this was his co-star, and he was genuinely interested in and invested in it. It was a pleasure working with him.

“I believe that the difference was that she truly liked him. One aspect of the movie that I was extremely proud of and content with, in my opinion, was how strong the relationship was.

Rumors even started to circulate that Smith was considering taking over Abbey; while Berens wouldn’t have been opposed to it, he was a little leery of the idea.

“Kind of through the channels he had mentioned that, but he didn’t really say that directly to me,” he said.

“I didn’t want that to end badly since, as you may know, a lot of these celebrities fall in love with their co-stars and then quickly move on to the next project.

Maybe if he had approached me personally, but I’m not sure.You build quite a relationship when you practice and spend so much time with yourself. She has lived with us and among our other pets for the all of our lives. She’s simply always had a significant role in our family.”

After filming I Am Legend, Abbey went on to score several little roles, according to Berens, who also stated that Abbey’s training continued. “She had little things here and there, nothing of much substance or really identifiable,” he added.She has only ever been a family dog and pet.

“Some larger organizations have a slightly higher turnover rate. Since we’re a smaller business, the circumstances are a little more intimate. She’s currently in the front yard, you know.”

Berens claims his business is little, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t make significant products. In addition to training Adam Sandler in a number of films, including I Am Legend, Abbey also supplied and trained the dog Milo in The Mask.

Even though he works primarily with vehicles, dogs, and birds, Berens is accustomed to deviating from the path a little bit.

“As an animal trainer you always have your own stock, and if you can work with those you’re always wanting to because they’re your animals,” said the trainer.

However, things don’t always happen that way. Especially with Adam, there have been numerous instances when he wrote something so bizarre that we had to go look for it, prepare it, and put it together for the movie. Not everything you have was ideal.”

However, he also thinks that all animals can be trained to some extent.

“That’s the thing with animal training – it’s the art of illusion.”