The sequel to Independence Day, the movie that certified Will Smith as a box office draw, will have to move forward without him. According to director Roland Emmerich, Smith is “too expensive.” But Emmerich is still holding out hope that the rapper-turned-actor will at least consider a cameo in the upcoming film.

Independence Day 2 will feature the aliens’ return to earth for revenge 20 years after the attack in the first film. “The humans knew that one day the aliens would come back,” explained Emmerich during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “And they know that the only way you can really travel in space is through wormholes. So for the aliens, it could take two or three weeks, but for us that’s 20 or 25 years.”

When the other-worldly creatures arrive, they won’t find the human race as woefully unprepared as it was the last time around. “It’s a changed world. It’s like parallel history. [Humans] have harnessed all 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,” said Emmerich.

Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman will reprise their roles, respectively, as David Levinson, a computer expert, and then-President Thomas Whitmore. But most of the plot will revolve around younger characters.

There are already plans in place for a follow-up film. “The first one ends on a little success, but only enough to give the humans hope. And then in the second one, they free themselves again [from the aliens],” added the director.

Independence Day 2 is slated to hit theaters on July 3, 2015.