Casting on Roland Emmerich’s long-awaited blockbuster sequel continues today as The Wrap reports that Travis Tope is now circling a part in Independence Day 2. Should he lock down the gig, Tope will be the latest in a long line of franchise newbies destined to duke it out with the extraterrestrials in another global battle.
Those fresh faces include Charlotte Gainsbourg (Nymphomaniac, Melancholia), Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games series), who is expected to play the son-in-law of Bill Pullman’s President Whitmore from the 1996 original, and Jessie Usher (When The Game Stands Tall), who will bust out the quips as the stepson of Will Smith’s fast-talking pilot Steven Hiller.
With specifics on Tope’s role under wraps, there’s a good chance he may also play a character tenuously linked to the original as well. Forging a stronger connection to that first outing are a small ensemble of returning actors; Jeff Goldblum is reprising his role as MIT scientist David Levinson, Vivica A. Fox will be back as Steven Hiller’s girlfriend Jasmine – presumably the mother of Usher’s character – and Bill Pullman will take to the Oval Office as President James Whitmore for a second term.
Ahead of his turn in the sci-fi sequel, you can catch up with Tope’s most recent performances in the remake of The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Jason Reitman’s Men, Women And Children and the Elizabeth Banks-starrer Little Accidents.
Independence Day 2 is slated for release on June 24, 2016.