Lets get this one out of the way first: star Will Smith, whose movie career was, for all intents and purposes, launched with the original Independence Day (yes, Bad Boys came out first, but ID4 was the mega blockbuster that really launched him), will not be back. Depending on who you talk to, he either wasn't interested, was too expensive, didn't want to be a "sequel guy", or was a marquee name that was too big for what the film had planned. Ignore the latter, and assume that if the money had been right, Smith would have returned. He did come back for the better-than-expected Men in Black III, after all, and is attached to both Hancock 2 and Bad Boys 3 currently. It's a shame, but Independence Day 2 will just have to move forward without him.