It has been nearly twenty years since the alien invasion movie Independence Day came out. It was such a massive hit that it catapulted one of its stars, Will Smith, into super-stardom. Bad Boys may have established him as a viable leading man, but it is Independence Day that cemented him as a summer box office king.
It seemed strange when we learned that the star won’t be returning to his iconic 90s role for the sequel to his blockbuster film, but Smith has an explanation on why he won’t be in it and says he will be sad to see it.
Speaking to Yahoo, he had this to say: “I was working on Suicide Squad during that time,” he explained, referring to the conflicting production schedules with another movie he has in the pipeline. “Roland [Emmerich, the director of Independence Day] and I had talked about it, the trailer looks really cool”
Well, there you go. It seems that simple timing is to blame, but, for his part of the conversation, Roland Emmerich states that Smith may just be tired of sequels:
“In the very beginning, I wanted to work with him (Smith),” the director says, “and he was excited to be in it, but then after a while he was tired of sequels, and he did another science-fiction film, which was his father-son story [After Earth], so he opted out,”
Sequel and science fiction fatigue? Hmm … but Smith does say that he feels bad for the fate of his character.
“I’m going to be sitting around with tears in my eyes when that one comes out … It was terrible when I found out my character died,” the actor said.
In the original Independence Day, Will Smith portrayed Captain Steven Hiller, a USMC F-18 pilot who flew the space craft which allowed Jeff Goldblum’s character, David Levinson, to upload a virus to the alien mothership that brought down the shields of all the alien cruisers scattered on earth. Both Hiller and Levinson survived that mission, but, while the trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence showed a healthy Levinson, Hiller was referred to in a news clip, showing that he had died from a plane crash.
Will you miss the quippy Smith in the sequel? Let us know in the comments below!
Author
