Could Will Smith return for Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day 2?

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Director Roland Emmerich recently announced the sequel to INDEPENDENCE DAY and dropped some details about the plot and characters, much to the chagrin of fans everywhere.  While there’s a lot of love for the first INDEPENDENCE DAY it’s been a long road to a sequel and many feel that it may have lost that momentum. However, with returning stars Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum apparently locked down and a 2015 release date in the cards, there is certainly potential to knock another one out of the park. The primary detractor is Will Smith, who rose to stardom with INDEPENDENCE DAY and has since gone on to become one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. Emmerich said that Smith would not be returning to the sequel, ironically, because of his salary, but the director backpedalled on that comment recently, while speaking to Digital Spy, saying:

“I sometimes say no, Will Smith will not be in it because he didn’t want to do it at first. Now we have a meeting planned, we want to talk about it again. Anything can happen.”

So, perhaps after the lackluster summer dud AFTER EARTH and recent desire to change things up, Smith may be game to get back in the saddle of a successful franchise after all. Certainly there’s no guarantee that his cigar-chomping, alien-punching, fighter pilot character will be back, but without Smith the sequel will likely feel like a family reunion that not everyone could make it to. Sure, it’s a cheesy, overblown family reunion, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. For Smith it could be a return to form of sorts, even if it’s more of the same. It’s still more of the same that made him popular to begin with.

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2 is scheduled for release on July 3, 2015, but based on this interview that’s pretty shaky.