News has broke about an 'Independence Day' sequel that is set to release in 2016 without the original lead role played by Will Smith.

On that note, Smith is one of the top actors in Hollywood and collects $20 million for movie roles. Director Roland Emmerich said that the actor who played U.S. Marine Corps pilot in the first film is just too expensive for the sequel.

"Smith cannot come back because he's too expensive, but he'd also be too much of a marquee name. It would be too much," Emmerich said.

Half of the original cast will be replaced, but Jeff Goldblum who played computer expert Dave Levinson and Bill Pulman who portrayed as the U.S. President Thomas Whitmore will reprise their roles.

Goldblum talked about his involvement in the film in an interview. "I had a meeting and have been talking over the last several months or year with Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, the producer, and they've been cooking up and say they have a part for me in what they hope will be a plan to make another one pretty soon," Goldblum said.

Meanwhile, Emmerich revealed that the story will take place in another setting, wherein humans have recovered from the effects of the first alien invasion 20 years ago.

"It's a changed world. It's like parallel history. Humans have harnessed all of this alien technology. We don't know how to duplicate it because it's organically-grown technology, but we know how to take an antigravity device and put it in a human airplane," the director said.

20th Century Fox is set to release 'Independence Day 2' in June 26, 2016 with director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin. The sequel will be divided into two parts as 'Independence Day Forever Part 1' and 'Independence Day Forever Part 2' and will be available in 3D.