Independence Day Producer Breaks Down Original Plans for Will Smith Sequel Return

The 1996 Independence Day is a seminal sci-fi film that is a defining blockbuster of the ’90s, which meant there was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm from both fans and filmmakers to continue the adventures of the concept. Star Will Smith was initially slated to return for not just one, but two films, yet by the time that project came to fruition 20 years later, he opted not to return. Producer Dean Devlin recently shared what the plan for the sequels would have been had Smith returned to the project, as well as what he believes was the reason he passed on the project.

“[Director] Roland [Emmerich] and I wrote it ourselves — we weren’t paid by the studio,” Devlin shared with Yahoo! Entertainment. “Before we wrote one word, we met with Will Smith and said, ‘This is the idea we have.’ He loved it and was super-excited to do it. We wrote not just one, but two sequels with him in mind and we handed them into the studio. They went crazy and greenlit immediately; they told us, ‘This is the best first draft we’ve ever read of any script.’”

At the time, the sequels were titled ID Forever Part 1 and ID Forever Part II and would have focused on Smith’s Steven Hiller being tasked with taking on an intergalactic threat once again.

“It was a bit like Rocky III,” Devlin teased of those sequels. “He’d gotten rich and he’d gotten famous, and he had to get the ‘Eye of the Tiger’ back, you know? He’s a little too comfortable and it’s his chance to bring the old Will Smith out of retirement.”

As far as why he thinks Smith passed on the project, the filmmaker thinks it was due to the disappointing reception of 2013’s sci-fi film After Earth.

“All of a sudden, he turned it down,” Devlin pondered. “We were shocked. Looking back, I think he felt a little burned because he had done that sci-fi movie that didn’t do well and he was generally worried about doing sequels. Ultimately, he wouldn’t do it, but the studio wanted to go forward anyway and we kind of ended up in development hell for a bit.”

ID Forever Part 1 instead morphed into 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence, which focused more on the return of Jeff Goldblum’s character. Devlin claims that it was interference from the studio to fit what they believed to be the blockbuster mold that prevented the project from replicating the original film’s success.

“I think Roland directed a really interesting movie, but the studio asked us to make changes that didn’t make any sense to me and ultimately we put out a movie that I’m not crazy about,” the filmmaker confessed. “They said, ‘Modern tentpole movies don’t have comedy in them anymore,’ and I was like, ‘Have you ever seen a Marvel movie?’ They also wanted to concentrate on the younger pilots, who didn’t have as much to do with the original Independence Day.” 

Devlin added, “They thought that young people wouldn’t want to watch Jeff Goldblum, which I thought was crazy. There was a great movie to be made there, and I wish we had made it.”

Despite ending with a tease for a third film, no updates on a follow-up to Independence Day: Resurgence have been revealed since its release.

What do you think of Devlin’s remarks? Let us know in the comments!