Roland Emmerich Talks 'Independence Day' Sequels

In what's been talked about since the original hit theaters back in the summer of '96, many have long wondered when a sequel to Independence Day would come to fruition.

While there has been many discussions about the film over the past several years - ranging from shooting two films back-to-back to Will Smith being offered $50 million to return - there hasn't been official movement on the project(s) in terms of a start or release date.

While beginning the promotional tour for his newest action-centric flick, White House Down (which looks amazing), director Roland Emmerich has of course given new updates as to when we might finally see, as he likes to call it, ID Forever Part 1 & ID Forever Part 2.

In terms of the story, Emmerich states the aliens return to earth 20 years after the original invaders attacked due to a distress call sent by the first wave in the original film:

”The humans knew that one day the aliens would come back,” explains the director, who completed two scripts with Independence Day co-writer Dean Devlin and has given them to White House Down writer-producer James Vanderbilt for a rewrite. ”And they know that the only way you can really travel in space is through wormholes. So for the aliens, it could take two or three weeks, but for us that’s 20 or 25 years.”

The director also discusses how he is already working with an art department to create a world for the film as well as who we might see return:

“It’s a changed world. It’s like parallel history. [Humans] have harnessed all this alien technology. We don’t know how to duplicate it because it’s organically-grown technology, but we know how to take an antigravity device and put it in a human airplane,” he explains. And while there may be some familiar faces in the sequels — Bill Pullman has already confirmed that he is onboard; Will Smith has not — their storylines will focus on a new generation of human heroes, including the stepson of Will Smith’s Independence Day character (played in that film by Ross Bagley). “It’s still some of the same characters, but also new younger characters; it’s a little bit like the sons take over.”

Finally, Emmerich has this to say in terms of the first sequel's ending:

“The first one ends on a little success, but only enough to give the humans hope. And then in the second one they free themselves again [from the aliens].”

I'll say this, Independence Day is a classic.  It's a film that can be watched multiple times and never get old (especially during the 4th of July).  With that, I can only hope the amount of time that has passed since the film was released has served the original filmmakers well in coming up with the right ideas and right story (which it certainly sounds like) to do the first film justice.

Honestly though, if it looks anything like the trailer for White House Down, this thing will be beyond f***ing EPIC.

Source: Entertainment Weekly