YouTube screengrab from the "Independence Day: Resurgence" trailer. (Photo : screengrab image/YouTube)
Twentieth Century Fox released its "Independence Day: Resurgence" trailer over the weekend, nearly 20 years after the first "Independence Day" hit the big screen.
Set two decades after the events following the first film, "Independence Day: Resurgence" sees the return of the aliens that attacked the earth and threatened the extinction of the human race.
A majority of the first movie's original cast are returning for the sequel, including Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, Vivica A. Fox, and Brent Spinner.
Will Smith, who was the leading protagonist in the first "Independence Day," will not be reprising his role as USMC fighter pilot, Captain Steven Hiller for the sequel.
Capt. Hiller's fate has been revealed in a viral website Fox has created for the film, Warof1996.com, where it is explained Hiller had died in an alien tech malfunction explosion shortly after the events of the first film, Cinema Blend said.
Fox had earlier bowed out of negotiations with Smith after the actor's $50 million asking price proved to be too expensive for the studio.
In lieu of Smith, new characters have come on board to round out the cast, played by actors, Sela Ward, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Liam Hemsworth, Maika Monroe, and Jessie Usher.
The trailer puts a focus on Goldblum's character, David Levinson, who relates how the earth's governments made use of the aliens' technology to build a defensive force to prevent another invasion.
However, this second invasion appears to be an even bigger force compared to the first one, Uproxx reported.
In the background of the trailer, Pullman's character, the former U.S. president, Thomas J. Whitmore, intones the before-battle speech he made in the first film.
"Independence Day: Resurgence" will be premiering in theaters on June 24, 2016.
