Here’s the real reason Will Smith isn’t returning to Independence Day

We're very excited about the return of one of the best movies, Independence Day: Resurgence. When the first official trailer was released for Independence Day: Resurgence was released, a sequel to the 1996 classic movie, one person was noticeably missing, Will Smith. He played the lead role of Col Hiller and pretty much made the movie but when it was revealed that his character was killed off for the new movie a lot of eyebrows were raised. On the website for the movie, it stated that, "Hiller's valour in the War of '96 made him a beloved global icon whose selfless assault against the alien mothership led directly to the enemy's defeat. He is survived by his wife Jasmine and his son Dylan." We began to wonder why he didn't have a place in the sequel with some people speculating that it was to do with money. But it turns out the real reason was completely different. The director Roland Emmerich was speaking to HeyUGuys about the reboot and said that it was purely down to storylines and how they wanted to bring in a new generation. He said, "The first script included Will Smith, and it was a totally different story. It was a father-son story, but that didn’t work. So, I said: “let's explore other possibilities.” He added, "‘Maybe two years ago it fully hit me. I hired two young writers and they said, “This has to be a hand off to a younger generation.” And that was, I thought, the real trick to make this work.’ The next installment hits cinemas on Friday 24th June and sees Liam Hemsworth joining the cast, along with Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman who are reprising their roles from the first movie. Lead image and video via Fox Movies.