Credit: 20th Century StudiosThe long-in-development sequel Independence Day: Insurgence (2016) had a lot to live up to and pretty inarguably failed to do, receiving harsh reviews across the board and a disappointing box office return. According to one of the stars of the movie, the reason for that was simple: No Will Smith, no successful Independence Day.
In an interview with the AV Club, Independence Day: Insurgence star Vivica A Fox revealed that she felt the movie was inferior to the first and that the absence of Will Smith was key to that. Fox said that she “didn’t feel like it was good and lived up to the first one…I really feel we missed out by not bringing Will Smith [back]” as Captain Steven Hiller.
Vivica A Fox went even further to say that Independence Day: Resurgence “got most of the original cast, but I think the one true link that was missing to the success of Independence Day 2 was that we missed that Will Smith wasn’t there” and that she had worried at the premiere how fans of the first film would feel about his absence.
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Will Smith Was a Breakout Star of ‘Independence Day’
Will Smith was not the only star of the first Independence Day movie to not return, but he was unquestionably the biggest. Mae Whitman, who starred as Presidential daughter Patricia Whitmore, was replaced by Maika Monroe, while Ross Bagley, who played Vivica A Fox’s son, was replaced by Jessie T Usher.
Credit: 20th Century Fox
However, while both of those actors were supporting characters in the first movie (not to mention children), Independence Day was one of the early breakout movies for Will Smith as he began to shed his image as the Fresh Prince TV star and rapper. Along with Jeff Goldblum, Smith became a leading man and action star based in large part to Independence Day, so it makes sense that fans would not be happy for him not to be involved in a 20-year-later sequel.
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Will Smith Prioritized Other Film Projects
According to Will Smith himself, he declined to return for Independence Day: Resurgence due to commitments with the notorious DCEU movie Suicide Squad (2016) and his sports drama Concussion (2015).
However, Independence Day director Roland Emmerich also was quoted as saying that Smith was “too expensive;” it probably didn’t help fans coming back to the franchise on a wave of nostalgia that the movie explained the actor’s absence by having him ignominiously die off-screen in a plane crash.
Regardless, the combined presence of Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, William Fichtner, Judd Hirsch, and Sela Ward, and an attempt to position Liam Hemsworth as a leading man did not seem to make up for the lack of Will Smith. Sounds like Vivica A Fox is on to something.