Vivica A. Fox wishes Will Smith was in Independence Day 2, too

Stars, they’re just like us. They didn’t like the Independence Day sequel either.

Seven years after the release of [brushes away space dust] Independence Day: Resurgence, a film with a title almost as memorable as the upcoming Liam Neeson vehicle, Retribution, Vivica A. Fox has finally diagnosed what went wrong with the misbegotten sequel: A Will Smith deficiency. Speaking to The A.V. Club while promoting her new true-crime series, The Interrogation Room, Vivica A. Fox admits she didn’t like the sequel because she “didn’t feel like it was good,” and there was no Will Smith.

“When they made the sequel to Independence Day, I was like, ‘It’s about time that we’re doing a sequel,’” she said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t like the movie. I just didn’t feel like it was good; it didn’t live up to the first one. I really feel we missed out by not recasting or not by not bringing Will Smith back. We had most of the original cast on, but I think the one true link that was missing to the success of Independence Day was that we missed that. Will Smith wasn’t there.”

Fox was open about her experience seeing it for the first time and hoping it was just her who had that reaction. But, well, how many people even remember an Independence Day sequel from seven years ago? “I’m going to keep it real. I was at the premiere, and I was like, ‘Mm. Mm. Let’s see how the fans are going to feel about this,’” she continued. “Sure enough, on Twitter, they blew me up. They weren’t happy with it.”

She’s not wrong, which is really saying something considering Will Smith’s current social standing. Will Smith was the glue holding Independence Day together. To make a sequel without him would be like making a Men In Black sequel without Linda Fiorentino. Think we’re wrong? Look how Men In Black II turned out. There was something special about that original cast, an energy that made audiences cheer when Smith welcomed an alien to Earth.

“The original one was just so good,” Fox said. “It really made you feel, you know, proud to be an American. And you cheered for the cast. And we were missing that in the second one.”

For his part, Will Smith was busy the weekend Roland Emmerich was filming Resurgence. Instead, Smith was making two classics: Suicide Squad and Concussion. “It was one of those things,” he told BBC Radio. “I had a couple of films lined up, I had Concussion and Suicide Squad, and so it was a decision, timing-wise, between Independence Day and Suicide Squad,” the actor said. Ironically, he wouldn’t appear in the to Suicide Squad either. We’re still waiting on Concus2ion.