When we talk about some of the most established and successful individuals in Hollywood, Will Smith is surely going to make his way to the list. His transition from novelty hip-hop to the classic sitcom star was a natural one. However, it took him some time to make a name in Hollywood from his television career. It was the 1996 sci-fi film Independence Day that gave Smith the first breakthrough in the film industry. Even though the film was a huge success both critically and commercially, the sequel featuring Will Smith never happened. And recently, producer Dean Devlin revealed some secrets about the same.

We are no strangers to how popular and successful the film Independence Day was. However, at the same time, the sequel to the sci-fi movie was a huge flop. Not only did the second film fail to live up to fan expectations, it also replaced the lead actor, Will Smith. However, as surprising as it sounds, the producers originally planned to cast Smith for at least two sequels before bringing any other star in the picture.

During an interview with Yahoo, Dean Devlin revealed, “Before we wrote one word, we met with Will Smith and said, ‘This is the idea we have.’ He loved it and was super-excited to do it.”

Interestingly, the producers wrote two sequels featuring the actor, even handed them to the studio. Not only did the studio praise the scripts, they immediately green lit it for production. However, soon after the studio started pushing the sequels for production, the King Richard star backed off.

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The producer further revealed how they were shocked to see the actor suddenly refused to star in the film. While the exact reason is not clear, Devlin shed some light on why Smith chose to step back. The Geostorm fame revealed that Smith never had a good feeling about sequels. Notably, prior to ID 2, the actor’s sci-fi film After Earth did not do well at the box office.

Meanwhile, his exit resulted in chaos that the production team had to sort out.

The aftermath of Will Smith’ exit from the film

Since the Men In Black actor refused to star in the sequel of Independence Day, the producers were left confused. However, despite such a major setback, the studio was in a hurry to release the sequels. Devlin further revealed how they were left in a “development hell” for a bit.

They then took the story forward with Jessie T. Usher as Dylan, Steven’s grandson, and the leader of the Hiller clan. The new storyline did not do well as the film failed to match up with the first film’s massive $ 800 million box office collection.While the sequel paved a way for the third installment, the studio did not go further with it owing to the poor performance.

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