No Will Smith for Independence Day 2

Following the news that Roland Emmerich is finally rolling out a sequel to 'Independence Day' in 2015 it's been revealed that its biggest star, Will Smith, won't be retuning to the franchise.

In an interview with 'The New York Daily' yesterday, the director said "Will Smith can not come back because he's too expensive, but he'd also be too much of a marquee name,"

[Independence Day 2 lands release date]

However, speculation remains high as to who from the first movie will be returning to fight the aliens.

Said Emmerich: "We have like maybe half of the people that you know would know from the first film (in the script) and the other half people who are new."

However, it does look like Bill Pullman will be reprising his role as Thomas Whitmore as he confirmed earlier in the year that he'd been approached by the producers.

It's expected to be the first of a two-part sequel, provisionally titled 'ID Forever, Part I.' Teasingly, Emmerich said: "We're not doing a total reboot, we're doing something that's totally unusual."

[Emmerich reveals details of Independence Day sequel]

There is one consistency between the two movies, though: "I think some aliens will be back," joked the director.

As revealed earlier this week, the script has bee put together by Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin while James Vanderbilt ('The Amazing Spider-Man,' 'Zodiac') has been brought in to polish it up. The release date has been announced as July 3rd 2015.