Will Will Smith appear in Independence Day 2?

TIMED to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original blcokbuster’s release, the Independence Day sequel may be missing one key ingredient.

Will Smith attends NE-YO & Compound Entertainment 6th Annual GRAMMY Midnight Brunch. (Photo by Johnny Nun...

WE learned back in October that the long-gestating Independence Day sequel has two working scripts: One with Will Smith and one without. Now, according to Deadline.com, it looks like the one that doesn’t feature Smith is more likely to enter production.

An anonymous source tells Deadline that Smith has informed Fox he is not on board for the follow-up to the popular sci-fi flick. The early reports indicate Smith has not yet officially broken the news to director Roland Emmerich, who previously said the actor’s involvement was “looking good” despite the fact that he’s “too expensive” and “too marquee.” (HuffPost Entertainment reached out to Smith’s rep for confirmation and will update this post upon hearing back.)

The release of Independence Day 2 - also known as ID Forever - will coincide the 1996 original’s 20th anniversary. It was delayed from July 2015 to July 2016 to avoid a busy summer that includes Jurassic World, The Fantastic Four, Terminator: Genesis and Ant-Man. Even if Smith doesn’t return, we may still see a star-studded spectacle, as Michael B. Jordan is rumoured for the lead, and Independence Day stars Jeff Goldbum and Bill Pullman are reportedly expected to reprise their roles.

The 1996 film became a box office behemoth, collecting $817 million worldwide and winning the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. It’s often credited as having jump-started Hollywood’s big-budget disaster-film infatuation.

This story originally appeared on The Huffington Post