INDEPENDENCE DAY 2 official title, images and plot details revealed!

It’s taken nearly 20 years, but the Independence Day sequel is nearly here (my procrastination skills ain’t got nothing on those aliens!). In the early hours of this morning, 20th Century Fox gathered director Roland Emmerich and his primary cast – which includes Jessie Usher, Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner, Angelbaby, Maika Monroe, and Sela Ward –  for a live Q&A session from the set of the film in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

You can watch the entire session in the video below, or scroll down for the cliff-notes version of all the details revealed.

• Emmerich unveiled the film’s official title as Independence Day: Resurgence. The name comes from this film being a resurgence of the franchise, as well the resurgence of humanity within the film universe

• The movie takes place in 2016, 20 years after what has now become known as the “War of 1996” – the film will be dealing heavily with the generational fallout of that event, including several kids being orphaned by the war. One of the major themes of the movie is the relationship between fathers and sons

• Jeff Goldblum’s character from the original film, David Levinson, is now the head of the Earth Space Defense, a multi-national organization intent on using alien technology “harvested” from the remains of the first invasion, to create new man-made/alien hybrid technology to prepare for another invasion

• The Q&A livestream took place on a set for a moon base, which uses some of this new tech. A new hybrid fighter jet was revealed as well as a “Moon Tug” – basically a glorified forklift, which features quite a bit in the story

• Bill Pullman’s ex-US President James Whitmore is confirmed to be back, but his role in the story is uncertain

• Sela Ward is the new President of the United States, and is far more aggressive in her approach, as she has been preparing for the inevitable day when the aliens return

• Jessie Usher was confirmed as Dylan Hiller, the now grown-up son of Vivica A. Fox’s Jasmine – who has given up her stripper ways to become a hospital administrator – and Will Smith’s Capt. Steven Hiller from the first film. While Smith isn’t returning, Usher stated that his performance from the first film had a huge impact on Usher’s character, who was forced to grow up in the shadow of the man who saved the Earth

• Similarly, Maika Monroe’s character of Patricia Whitmore, daughter of Bill Pullman’s ex-President, also had to live up to that impossible legacy. Her character’s details are not fully revealed, but it appears that she’s some kind of special agent working for Sela Ward’s President Lanford now

• Liam Hemsworth’s Jake Morrison is a war-orphan who grew up to become a fighter pilot, however after some unspecified infraction he was demoted to operating a Moon Tug on the moon base

• Chinese actress/model Angelbaby (aka Angela Yeung) also plays an orphan who grew up to become a fighter pilot, but her career appears more straightforward

• Brent Spiner’s crazy Dr. Okun is back, and this time he has even more unruly wig

• Judd Hirsch’s Julius Levinson is also back, and his arc in the movie is all about reaching his son David (Jeff Goldblum) for some unknown reason

• Emmerich revealed that he originally wasn’t keen on doing an Independence Day sequel, but after working on 2012 he became intrigued by what he could do with the advances in technology

Along with the Q&A, 20th Century Fox also revealed two images from the movie, which gives a behind-the-scenes look Emmerich on the set, as well as the previously mentioned Moon Tug. Collider has also release several additional images which they took when they got to visit the set themselves. Check them all out in the gallery below.

Independence Day: Resurgence will also star Charlotte Gainsbourg in an undisclosed role, as well as Patrick St Esprit as Secretary of Defense Tanner, and William Fichtner as a character known only as the General, who is said to have a major role in the planned next two films. The film is currently in production and is scheduled for release on July 24, 2016, nearly exactly 20 years after the release of the first film. Here’s the official full synopsis:

We always knew they were coming back. After that film redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter in the Independence Day universe delivers a global spectacle on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens’ advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.

Last Updated: June 23, 2015