Sela Ward, who previously worked with Roland Emmerich on his 2004 global warming disaster thriller The Day After Tomorrow, has joined the cast of the currently-filming Independence Day 2. According to Deadline, the “CSI: NY” star will play the film’s new President of the United States, President Landford.
The original film’s President Thomas J. Whitmore will also be returning with Bill Pullman reprising his role opposite fellow alums Jeff Goldblum, Vivica A. Fox, Judd Hirsch and Brent Spiner as well as a cast of franchise newcomers that includes Liam Hemsworth, Jessie Usher, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Travis Tope, Joey King, Maika Monroe and Brent Spiner.
Set to hit theaters June 24, 2016 (almost exactly 20 years after the original), Independence Day 2 is looking to begin production in May with a script most recently rewritten by Carter Blanchard (best known for the short-lived 2009 series “G vs E”). Previous drafts were done by Emmerich and Dean Devlin, and then by James Vanderbilt.
The original Independence Day opened on July 3, 1996 and earned an impressive $817.4 million worldwide. Emmerich is also set to produce the sequel alongside Devlin and Harald Kloser.
Ward, who won a Golden Globe for her performance in series “Once and Again,” most recently starred in David Fincher’s Gone Girl at 20th Century Fox.
