Development The possibility of a sequel to
Independence Day (1996) had been discussed as early as 2001, and the film's producer and writer,
Dean Devlin, once stated that the world's reaction to the
September 11 attacks influenced him to strongly consider making a sequel to the film. Devlin began writing an outline for a script with Emmerich, but in May 2004 during the release of
The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Emmerich said he and Devlin had attempted to "figure out a way how to continue the story", but that this ultimately did not work, and the pair abandoned the idea. In October 2009, Emmerich said he once again had plans for a sequel, and had since considered the idea of making two sequels to form a trilogy. On June 24, 2011, Devlin confirmed that he and Emmerich had found an idea for the sequels and had written a treatment for it. In October 2011, however, discussions for
Will Smith returning were halted, due to Fox's refusal to provide the $50 million salary demanded by Smith for the two sequels. Emmerich, however, made assurances that the films would be shot
back-to-back, regardless of Smith's involvement. In July 2012, Devlin reiterated that the
Independence Day sequel was still in development, and the script would take place in 2012, 16 years after the original film's events. In March 2013, Emmerich stated that the titles of the new films would be
ID: Forever – Part I and
ID: Forever – Part II. The films will take place twenty years after the original, when reinforcements of the original alien species arrive at Earth after finally receiving a distress call. The new films will focus on the next generation of heroes, including the stepson of Smith's character in the original film. In May 2013, Emmerich and Devlin mentioned that wormholes would be used as a plot device in
ID: Forever. The following month, Devlin and Emmerich brought in the latter's
White House Down (2013) collaborator
James Vanderbilt to revise their previous draft. By February 2014, Vanderbilt had written two variations of the script: one featuring Smith's character in the lead and one with Smith cut out completely. On May 29, 2014, it was announced that the script for the first sequel written by Emmerich and Devlin would be rewritten by Carter Blanchard. The script was delivered to Fox along with twenty
previsualization shots produced under effects supervisor
Volker Engel, a long-time collaborator of Emmerich. On November 26, 2014, Deadline confirmed that Fox had
greenlit the single film, and they were in talks with Emmerich to direct the film, while casting was reported to begin after Emmerich's confirmation. Writing duo
James A. Woods and
Nicolas Wright, who were working with Emmerich on a remake of
Stargate (1997) at the same time, wrote the final draft of the script that resulted in the film getting officially greenlit. The full title,
Independence Day: Resurgence, was revealed on June 22, 2015.
Returns,
Retaliation,
Rises, and
Requiem were all considered too along with the title before settling with
Resurgence. Emmerich explained that in the sequel, the alien invaders that were likened in the original to locusts "are more like bees", with a hive mentality and only interested in multiplying, "and when they arrive it's more like a natural disaster than an invasion."
Casting Early on, both Emmerich and Devlin hoped that Smith would return. Smith later stated that he declined the role due to scheduling conflicts with
Suicide Squad (2016), also in production at the time. Smith's absence in the movie is explained with the death of his character, Steven Hiller, who had been promoted to
colonel, 11 years after the events of the first film when personally testing the first experimental prototype fighter designed with alien technology for the ESD. Later in June, it was officially confirmed that both Goldblum and Pullman would return in the sequel, and that a gay character would be featured. On January 27, 2015, casting began with Fox offering the lead role to
Liam Hemsworth. French-British actress
Charlotte Gainsbourg was in talks to join the film's cast, revealed by THR on March 20, 2015. Newcomer
Travis Tope was set on March 25, 2015, to play the role of Charlie. On March 3, 2015,
Jessie Usher was added to the cast to portray the role of the stepson of Smith's character.
Jeff Goldblum and
Bill Pullman were also set to reprise their roles from the previous film. On March 24, 2015, Emmerich confirmed via Twitter that
Vivica A. Fox would reprise the role of Jasmine Dubrow, her character from the previous film.
Maika Monroe signed on to star in the film on April 27, 2015. She would play the daughter of the former president after
Mae Whitman, who played the character in the original movie, declined to read for the part, according to Emmerich, though other sources indicate there might have been other reasons involved. Monroe was selected from a shortlist that included
Gabriella Wilde,
Britt Robertson,
Merritt Patterson and
Lucy Boynton.
Sela Ward's casting as the new
President of the United States was confirmed on May 4, 2015. On May 13, 2015,
Mckenna Grace also joined the film to play Daisy. On May 19, 2015,
Patrick St. Esprit was cast as Secretary of Defense Tanner. On May 29, 2015,
William Fichtner was cast as a General, a role that is planned to be larger if more films are made. The casting of
Angelababy was announced on Twitter by Emmerich on June 3, 2015.
Filming in
Utah where parts of the original film were also shot. Filming began on April 20, 2015, and wrapped on August 22, 2015. Filming for additional scenes also took place in early 2016 in Los Angeles. Some scenes were also filmed in West Wendover, Nevada,
London, at the
Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and
Singapore's
Marina Bay Sands. Due to the availability of regional filming, the producers decided to shoot the film largely in
New Mexico. Moreover, the state offers a 25% movie
tax credit. However, while location filming did take place in rural New Mexico and further north on the
Utah and
Nevada border, most of the shooting was studio-based. Albuquerque Studios was a major venue for the film. The film was shot in 6K resolution with
Red Epic Dragon cameras and Hawk
anamorphic lenses, and was later
stereo converted to 3D. The filmmakers refrained from shooting in
India or portraying any prominent Indian monuments as being damaged to avoid potential protests and legal action from Indian religious groups and activists. Originally, parts of
Dubai were planned to fall on
Paris in the scene depicting the mothership destroying Europe while using Asian monuments pulled out by its gravitational pull. However, following the
November 2015 Paris attacks, filmmakers reconsidered and instead had landmarks of Dubai fall on
London. Emmerich said, "After the attacks, we felt it wasn't right to have the
Burj Khalifa crashing on the
Eiffel Tower, so we dumped it on the
London Eye instead. The English can take it."
Visual effects and design Like the original
Independence Day,
Resurgence had its visual effects led by supervisor
Volker Engel and producer
Marc Weigert from
Uncharted Territory, LLC. Like with
White House Down, the Ncam
camera tracking system was used on set to provide animation previews to the cast and crew and gather data for the effects companies. While the original film relied heavily on miniatures and Engel wanted them on at least one scene, the effects were mostly computer-generated "which was pretty much less than half of the budget". Uncharted Territory, along with coordinating the overall efforts of 15 effects houses, was the leading company with 268 shots, created in a tight collaboration with the film's art department.
Scanline VFX was the first vendor hired, ==Music==