Independence Day Director Addresses the Franchise’s Potential Future

In the years following the release of Independence Day, the filmmakers had expressed their ideas for multiple sequels and ways in which the franchise could be continued, which have only resulted in 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence up to this point. Complicating the series’ future is that 20th Century Fox has been acquired by The Walt Disney Company, which means an all-new studio will have to find a way to deliver further adventures in the sci-fi series. Director Roland Emmerich, however, confirms there’s still a lot of life in the concept to potentially be explored in other arenas, depending on what Disney deems most appropriate.

“They have now a streaming service and they need product. I would love to do maybe a third one, or a TV show, continuing the story,” Emmerich explained to ComicBook.com. “When we did Independence Day: Resurgence, we already had, also, the third part already. And actually, the third part has much more to do with the first part, because we learned, more or less, that out there are a lot of refugees and they’re living on a refugee planet. And where [the aliens] finally come there because, somewhat like these aliens on earth, found out about it and telepathically or whatever gave it to their super queen. They’re all humans, but in all different forms. So it’s this thing that we have Brent Spiner and Jeff Goldblum and we have them with all these different forms of people, which would be a great movie. But we’ll see what happens.”

While the filmmaker would surely like to continue to tell stories in this world, he also has a number of other projects to keep occupied with, as he pointed out, “I mean, also … I have enough to do, so I don’t have to [focus on the franchise].”

Luckily, Emmerich’s busy schedule doesn’t mean the franchise can’t still move forward without him, as he’s open to seeing another filmmaker craft a story in the series. It does, however, hold a place close to his heart, so he’d be invested in whatever avenue the concept could head into next.

“It doesn’t matter, whoever does it, but I feel very passionate about it, very, very passionate, because it was a little bit like … this movie single-handedly also got me total freedom. I have final cut since then. I pretty much do my own thing,” the filmmaker pointed out. “And now, even producing my own films, no studio anymore, I got myself a studio, you know what I mean? In a very small form, like a little garage studio. Anyhow … I feel very, very passionate about it because it was my first — actually, that’s why both Stargate and Independence Day are seminal movies for me. They pretty much created all of what I did afterwards.”

In Emmerich’s upcoming film Moonfall, a mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler (Academy Award winner Halle Berry) is convinced she has the key to saving us all – but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson, Midway) and a conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (John Bradley, Game of Thrones) believe her. These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love, only to find out that our Moon is not what we think it is.

Moonfall is expected to land in theaters on February 4, 2022.

How would you like to see the concept continued? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!