“Will Smith cannot come back because he’s too expensive, but he’d also be too much of a marquee name,” Emmerich told the New York Daily News. “We have maybe half of the people that you would know from the first film, and the other half people who are new.” [THR]
As Uproxx notes, “too much of a marquee name” doesn't make any sense. Conventional wisdom says you want a marquee name to carry the movie, especially because Independence Day was a career gamechanger for Will Smith. Pullman has said in the past that the movie can't happen without Smith. Not sure what gives with the change of heart. Also, there's going to be a gay character. Via HuffPo:
“Actually in the next 'Independence Day' there is a gay character,” Emmerich says.
Finally, Vulture has the vaguest of vague plot details:
“As we learned back in March, the two sequels, ID Forever Part 1 and ID Forever Part II, will focus on present-day Earth, when the aliens return and a younger generation is tasked with fighting them off. Emmerich didn't specify exactly how big the roles are that the veterans will play.”
Umm, I don't know. It's kind of starting to sound a lot like the Ghostbusters reboot. Which means my expectations aren't very high. Let's just hope Pullman's speech is just as epic as the first one.
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