It has been on the ‘could be coming’ line for some time now but Bill Pullman has given an update on the sequel(s) to the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day and how it may go ahead without Will Smith.
“The Will Smith part of it may be ongoing, but I think there’s strategies for both [situations],” said Pullman during an interview with CraveOnline, revealing that director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin have a back-up plan should Smith decline the opportunity to return for the two proposed sequels. “I like what I have to do in both of them. I’m not in an old age home in a wheelchair being wheeled out for one more moment. It’s a very interesting conception of what happens to Whitmore between then and when it picks back up.”
Pullman – who is currently back in the White House as the star of the NBC sitcom 1600 Penn – goes on to say that Independence Day 2 could go into production “within a year”, but he has his reservations: “Nobody’s holding their breath because it’s been continually plagued.”
Originally published January 11, 2013. Updated November 6, 2019.
