8 Biggest Casting Mistakes In Upcoming Movies

4. No Will Smith - Independence Day: Resurgence

I've already established that I'm not the world's biggest Will Smith fan and am not that hot about him appearing in major box office movies in 2016, but there is one upcoming film where his absence will be really felt - Independence Day: Resurgence.

The original ID4 was a full-on Will Smith jaunt, simultaneously providing the TV comedy actor and rapper with his big movie break and hinging almost entirely on his charisma. Sure, you also had Jeff Goldblum channelling Ian Malcolm, Bill Pullman's rousing speech and a supporting cast of eclectic characters, but even I can't deny that Steven Hiller is the movie's heart and soul.

To not secure him for the sequel, and to then write him out so as to stop a return in the inevitable threequel, feels like a major mistake, leaving a gulf where the protagonist or mentor should be. Especially as everything we've seen in the marketing suggests this is really leaning into the events of the original, continuing the story in its own, semi-self-aware parallel world.

Maybe Smith is secretly in the movie, presumed dead while actually just held captive by the aliens, but unless we get that it's a missed opportunity.