Twenty years ago, aliens ravaged the Earth in director Roland Emmerich‘s Independence Day. And in just over a month, the invaders will be looking for payback in the long-awaited sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence. But before humanity once again faces death from above, 20th Century Fox has unleashed a new viral video that explores what happened after “The War of 1996.”
As alluded to in previous trailers, the ending of ID4 gave way to a wild alternate timeline in which alien technology was fully integrated into Earth’s military before trickling down to the general public. The United World News video offers a few more details about the alternate 2016, which includes a military base on the moon and unprecedented global unity. Because the video plays like propaganda, it’s difficult to tell if the people of Earth really have become more harmonious in the face of an alien genocide—or not.
Jeff Goldblum reprises his role as David Levinson in this video, and he’s clearly come up in the world since the events of the first film. Now, Levinson is the director of Earth Space Defense (ESD). Will Smith’s absence from the sequel is also felt, as Jessie Usher’s Dylan Hiller talks about the pressure that he felt to become as great a pilot as his step-dad.
To illustrate the international scale of Earth Space Defense, Angelababy briefly appears in this video as Rain, one of China’s pilots in ESD. Liam Hemsworth‘s Jake Morrison also makes an appearance as he touches on the emotional toll of the ’96 attacks.
While ex-President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) doesn’t appear in this video, it does illustrate that his famous speech from the first film was even more impactful in the ID4 universe. It also hints that Whitmore has been warning people about the return of the aliens for the past two decades.
Independence Day: Resurgence will open in theaters on June 24.
What did you think about the new Independence Day: Resurgence viral video? Let us know in the comment section below!
Image: 20th Century Fox
