If you don’t know who William Fichtner is, you probably should, as he’s almost certainly stolen scenes in stuff you’ve seen. Whether it’s as Van Zant in HEAT, the sexually ambiguous cop in GO, heart-eating Butch Cavendish in THE LONE RANGER, the devilish Accountant in DRIVE ANGRY, he’s one of those dudes who can be depended on to bring it, be it for a scene or for a major role in three successive movies.
The latter is exactly what Roland Emmerich has called upon him to do, as he’s hired Fichtner for a role that will span the length of the upcoming INDEPENDENCE DAY sequel trilogy. He’ll be playing a general, who will apparently have more of a presence in the latter two ID4 follow-ups than the initial one coming out next year. Anyone else think he’ll be the aggressive General Ross type who wants to take the aggressive, unheroic stance our heroes are against on principal?
Remember, Fichtner played a military type in space in ARMAGEDDON, and his pragmatic hardass is responsible for much of that film’s third-act tension.
They’re building a strong supporting cast for ID4 2, and this confirms that they’re already casting with the full sequel trilogy in mind. It’s not exactly THE HUNGER GAMES level star power or anything (at least not yet), but with talent on the level of Fichtner, Maika Monroe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Sela Ward joining the returning cast, it’s feeling like the disaster movie-esque ensemble vibe of the first one will carry over to this new run.
INDEPENDENCE DAY 2: WELCOME BACK TO EARTH blows up more monuments on June 24th, 2016
