After making a name for himself in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, it was 1996's Independence Day which turned Will Smith into a bona fide A-List movie star.
Early plans called for the actor to reprise his role in a sequel, and while 2016's Independence Day: Resurgence shifted the spotlight to Jessie T. Usher as Steven Hiller's stepson, there was no sign of Smith. Why? Well, we were told that his character had died during the 20-year gap between alien invasions!
Talking to Yahoo Entertainment, Independence Day writer Dean Devlin finally shed some light on his and filmmaker Roland Emmerich's plans for Smith's character in an earlier draft of the sequel.
"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," Devlin recalls. "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.'"
ID Forever Part 1 and Part 2 (yes, early plans called for a trilogy) were set to feature Hiller getting back into fighting shape in order to take on those returning invaders. "It was a bit like Rocky III," the writer says. "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."
"All of a sudden, he turned it down," Devlin continues. "We were shocked. Looking back, I think he felt a little burned because he had done that sci-fi movie [2013's After Earth] that didn't do well and he was generally worried about doing sequels."
Admitting he's "not crazy" about Resurgence, Devlin blames the way that movie turned out on studio interference (such as making it more serious). In fact, they even believed younger viewers wouldn't want to watch the legendary Jeff Goldblum, hence why there was so much focus on the younger, and most unpopular, pilots.
There's definitely a way of bringing the Independence Day franchise back to our screens, but the time has passed for Smith to be involved. With that in mind, a full-blown reboot is one option, though whether there's an appetite for it is hard to say.