The latest epic battle “Independence Day: Resurgence” by director Roland Emmerich is set twenty years after the alien invasion that nearly decimated the planet and presents an alternate reality to our world today. 
The backstory of “Independence Day: Resurgence” begins in 1996, during an ordinary summer day when, without warning, something extraordinary happened. All eyes turned upward and the question of whether we were alone in the universe was finally answered. In a matter of minutes, the lives of every person across the globe changed forever. With the fate of our planet at stake, the words “Independence Day” took on an entirely new meaning. No longer was it solely an American holiday. It would be memorialized as the day the entire world fought back against a common enemy.
The aftermath of what became known as the War of 1996 saw half of Earth’s population annihilated. Humanity had never come so close to total obliteration. Those who survived the Alien attack to rebuild our world would never forget the fallen and forever remember that unity is our greatest strength.
Aside from a small pocket of resistance in the African Congo, the Alien threat was neutralized—and the world began to rise from the ashes. Reconstruction started immediately as the great cities, monuments and landmarks of the world were slowly restored to their former glory. The near destruction of humankind had an unexpected but welcome effect, as centuries-old conflicts and political distrust dissolved to create an unprecedented cooperation among the nations of the world. Harvesting recovered Alien technology from the aftermath of the War of 1996, the unified nations spent the last two decades rebuilding and collaborating on an immense defense program to protect our planet from off-World invaders. The Earth Space Defense (ESD) program served as an early warning system and a united global defense unit. After years of research and development from ESD scientists around the world, the next generation of Alien-human vehicles and weapons systems were introduced.
“Independence Day: Resurgence” expands the mythology of the Independence Day universe by putting the band back together—reuniting original cast members from the first film—as well as introducing new players from around the world led by Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman with new characters played by Liam Hemsworth, Maika Monroe, Jessie Usher, Travis Trope, William Fichtner and Sela Ward.
For director Roland Emmerich, the ensemble is a dream team. “It’s exciting to see this handover from one generation to the next,” he notes. “We have veteran heroes from the first film making way for a team of new ones. With the original cast on set, and off, it’s like a 20-year class reunion—the class of ‘96.”
Producer Dean Devlin notes: “The most rewarding part of the project is being on set with these actors again and seeing that they are not just as good as they were then; they’ve gotten even better. When you’re writing the script, you wonder, ‘What’s it going to be like 20 years later?’ Then, our returnees work on this film, and they just light up the screen and our new team shines, as well. It’s the perfect mix.”
“Independence Day: Resurgence” is now showing in more than 300 screens nationwide from 20th Century Fox distributed by Warner Bros.
