‘Independence Day’ star knew sequel would struggle without Will Smith

Tomorrow, Americans and people around the world will gather to celebrate the founding of the United States of America. This significant holiday inspired the iconic action film Independence Day in 1996, and while it did get a sequel, the 2016 Independence Day: Resurgence lacked the original star Will Smith’s nuclear charisma, and one star did know this would kill it.

Vivica A. Fox — who played Smith’s character’s wife Jasmine in the original and reprised her role in the sequel, makes her opinion about his absence known in a new article published by The A.V. Club Friday. While speaking with the outlet on this film series and other aspects of her career, Fox says the piece really missed out by not getting him, and he was the secret sauce of the first hitting.

“I just didn’t feel like it was good and it lived up… we had most of the original cast, but I think the one true link that was missing to the success of Independence Day 2 was Will Smith wasn’t there. I am going to keep it real — I was at the premiere and I was like ‘Mmm, let’s see how the fans are going to feel about this.’ And, sure enough on Twitter, they did blow me up.”

For those who did not watch the second, Smith’s Steven Hiller is revealed to have died piloting a test craft that melded human and alien technology together. His son ends up being one of the heroic characters in the sequel, and while Smith has stated his decision to move forward in his career as the reason for not participating, conflicting reports from director Roland Emmerich indicate that Will Smith demanded too high a fee to return to the project. Instead, he opted to star in Suicide Squad, becoming one of the brighter spots of the project. While the future of his career is in doubt alongside the overall franchise, Emmerich believes there may still be potential for a spark there.

In 2021, he said he would like to do another movie or even a television series to continue the story, and the perfect home for it would be on Disney Plus, given the service’s need for content. As of the filing of this story, Disney has not shown any public interest in the suggestion.

if you wish to watch the original two films, they are available on Hulu and a variety of other web platforms. If that’s not your thing, there is also a Twitter account that posts the film’s events in real time annually.