Will Smith Won't Appear in "Independence Day 2," Says Director

Very exciting news has been spilling about a sequel to " link in film history. Sadly, Roland Emmerich has stated that Will Smith will not be resuming his role in the sequel.

Emmerich recently told the New York Daily News, "Will Smith cannot come back because he's too expensive, but he'd also be too much of a marquee name... We have maybe half of the people that you would know from the first film, and the other half people who are new."

We will be seeing Jeff Goldblum return as the computer brainiac, and according to the Hollywood Reporter, Bill Punham, who played the speechmaking President Whitmore, will also be back.

"Independence Day 2" is now slated for a July 2015 release date, nearly two decades after the first film came out.