Will Smith was once the one star you could bank on making a successful summer blockbuster. But apart from recent efforts like After Earth, a turn to more dramatic projects, and molding his kids’ careers, we haven’t seen the actor grace the big screen much.

When plans for a series of Independence Day sequels started to arise, one of the first questions was how many actors would be coming back to reprise their roles. Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum were confirmed to be one of the major stars to return, but according to Roland Emmerich, Smith’s price tag may be too high just to reprise a role. That was back in June. Now the director is singing a slightly different tune as he has revealed that he has been in talks with the actor.

In an interview with Digital Spy, the director said:

This comes after both After Earth and White House Down failed to meet studio expectations. While it has been over a decade since we’ve seen an Independence Day film on the big screen, a reunion between the two could just be the thing to put their respective flops way behind them.

Emmerich also says that he expects to start shooting next year and that Fox has penned a July 3, 2016 release date – because why else would they scheduled a film outside of its titular holiday. But if you look closer at the date, you will notice that it marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the original film.

[Source: Digital Spy]