Even though we’ve known Will Smith bowed out of the sequel for a while now, when 20th Century Fox revealed the first trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence, many fans who don’t read the trades were probably wondering where the star was. Later, a viral website detailing the alternate history of the Earth in the wake of the first film revealed Smith’s character, Steven Hiller, had perished between the two films. Although director Roland Emmerich had previously blamed everything from Smith’s asking price to his overwhelming star power to his reluctance to return to sci-fi due to After Earth bombing, the Fresh Prince has now gone on record to Yahoo! on why he doesn’t appear and how he feels about the fate of his character. Continue reading
