Will Smith won't appear in Independence Day 2, it has been reported.

Filmmaker Roland Emmerich is making a follow-up to the 1996 film about aliens trying to invade Earth and it was thought the film's star Will could be back on board as Captain Steven Hiller.

However, Deadline reported that it looks unlikely that he'll sign up.

They cite a reliable source who said Will has "informed the studio that he won't be joining in".

However, the news isn't definite as the actor has apparently been in two minds about whether to do the movie for a while.

When the film was announced last year, director Roland said Will would not be fighting extra-terrestrials in the sequel, because he is too big a name these days and it would be too costly.

But the German filmmaker later told Digital Spy that Will was set to have discussions about reprising his role.

He said at the time: "I sometimes say no, Will Smith will not be in it because he didn't want to do it at first. Now we have a meeting planned, we want to talk about it again. So anything can happen."

Independence Day 2 is due to be released in 2016.

Source: Press Release