Emmerich updates on Independence Day sequels

Roland Emmerich has been speaking with EW about progress being made on a sequel to Independence Day.

As previously reported, the director is planning two sequels to the 1995 box office smash. Now, it seems, Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin have completed their drafts of what’s being called ID Forever Part 1 and Part 2 and handed them over to White House Down and The Amazing Spider-Man screenwriter James Vanderbilt for a rewrite.

As for the sequel’s story, it seems things are set in motion when a distress call sent back to the aliens’ home planet from the first film finally brings reinforcements to Earth.

“The humans knew that one day the aliens would come back, and they know that the only way you can really travel in space is through wormholes. So for the aliens, it could take two or three weeks, but for us that’s 20 or 25 years,” Emmerich said.

The filmmaker also revealed that the sequels will be a mix of characters from the original film and newcomers, with the primary focus being on the latter: “It’s still some of the same characters, but also new younger characters; it’s a little bit like the sons take over. The first one ends on a little success, but only enough to give the humans hope. And then in the second one they free themselves again [from the aliens].”

Emmerich said that he’s already started working with his art department to design the world of ID Forever: “It’s a changed world. It’s like parallel history. [Humans] have harnessed all this alien technology. We don’t know how to duplicate it because it’s organically-grown technology, but we know how to take an antigravity device and put it in a human airplane.”