Independence Day Star Says Sequel “Missed Out by Not Bringing Will Smith Back”

Independence Day star Vivica A. Fox says that the sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, missed out by not bringing back original film’s star, Will Smith. Speaking with A.V. Club (via Variety), Fox admitted that she feels like the sequel “didn’t live up” to the original film and that not bringing back Smith was a big part of how the sequel missed the mark, particularly for fans who had hoped to see the star in the second film. Independence Day: Resurgence was released in theaters in 2016, twenty years after the first film.

“I really feel we missed out by not bringing Will Smith back,” Fox said. “We had most of the original cast, but I think the one true link that was missing to the success of Independence Day 2 was that Will Smith wasn’t there. I’m going to keep it real — I was at the premiere and I was like, ‘Mmm, let’s see how the fans are going to feel about this,’ And sure enough on Twitter, they blew me up.”

Will Smith Was Initially Slated to Return For Not Just One, But Two Independence Day Sequels

When it was released in 1996, Independence Day was a huge hit — the film was the highest grossing film of that year with $817 million in worldwide ticket sales — and initially, there was a plan for Smith return for not just one, but two sequels, according to producer Dean Devlin.

“[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.”

Smith May Have Turned Down the Independence Day Sequel Because of Another Sci-Fi Film

Devlin went on to explain that he thinks Smith ultimately passed on the project due to the disappointing reception of the 2013 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.”