With some of the key pieces of casting in place, Roland Emmerich’s long gestating Independence Day 2 seems to be rolling along, it only took almost 20 years. Survivor’s Remorse star Jessie Usher recently joined the film to play the stepson of Will Smith’s Steven Hiller from the first film, and Liam Hemsworth, whose name has been mentioned in regards to the film, also climbed on board along with returning star Jeff Goldblum. We’re now hearing some plot details, as well as what we can expect to call this bad boy and potential news about the future of the franchise.

Most of this report from Bloody Disgusting is information we’ve heard before, though scattered and some of it popped up so long ago we had forgotten about it (or forced it from our collective memory). First up, the film will reportedly go by the title ID Forever, which is not the greatest title in the world. This is one piece that we hoped they were going to leave in the past, but apparently that is not the case.

…but don’t worry, they didn’t actually cast Will Smith’s son. No, Jaden is not picking up fighting aliens where his dad and Jeff Goldblum left off in 1996. But back as far as 2013 we’ve heard that Roland Emmerich’s long gestating sequel focuses on the stepson of Smith’s Captain Steven Hiller. You remember him, he’s that adorable little kid who hangs out with Vivica A. Fox. Well now he’s all grown up and being played by Jessie Usher. The production has also added two more players, one returning star in the person of Jeff Goldblum, and a newcomer, Liam Hemsworth.

This news comes form The Hollywood Reporter. If you’re not familiar with Usher, he’s done a lot of one-offs on procedural TV shows, but he is best known as the lead on Starz’ Survivor’s Remorse. To be honest, I’d never heard of that series until just now, but it’s apparently produced by Lebron James and follows a basketball star named Cam Calloway (Usher), who moves to Atlanta after going pro.

After spending so much time talking about what characters may or may not come back to the explosion-filed world of Independence Day 2, nobody around here has really considered what it might be like to get all-new characters in the highly anticipated sequel. It appears 20th Century Fox and director Roland Emmerich have reached out to Liam Hemsworth for a lead role in the picture. Wait, did I just say Chris Hemsworth?!? Oh, no, I didn’t.

The news comes from TheWrap, who claim that Hemsworth’s offer has been repeated by several sources, though nothing official has been released. Oddly enough, Hemsworth hasn’t responded to the offer just yet. I guess the Hunger Games star has to take a long hard look at his career to see if there’s another mega-blockbuster waiting for him out there somewhere. Does Thor have another brother who gets introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron?

We’re living in a world that has toyed with the concept of an Independence Day sequel for almost as many years as the first film has been out. The project finally got the official green light from Fox last month, and now we can really get down to the speculative nitty gritty, which kicks off with this potentially cryptic tweet from director Roland Emmerich himself.

There’s been talk of Independence Day 2 damn near since the first one was released in 1996 and became a massive hit. After tons of false starts, rumored script battles, and casting troubles, it appears that things are finally moving forward. There’s even a June 24, 2016 release date scheduled that will get the movie into theaters just in time for the Fourth of July weekend they ruled 20 years before. Producer Dean Devlin has been discussing the project, and recently shared some information about why they’re only shooting one movie this time out, what the star and script situations looks like, and even touched on the Stargate reboot with director Roland Emmerich.

The original plan was to film Independence Day 2 and Independence Day 3 back-to-back. That was the idea for years, even before it was the thing that everyone did, but as it turns out, they’re going to take the future of the franchise one movie at a time. This move makes sense, as popular as the first film was, it’s been a long time, and Devlin, Emmerich, and company want to make sure there’s still public interest before diving in. Devlin said:

There’s been so much talk of Independence Day 2 that who the hell knows what’s going on. It’s going to be one movie, it’s going to be two movies, Will Smith is back, Will Smith isn’t back, there’s a script for if Will Smith is back and one for if he isn’t. One thing is certain, however, this is in fact now officially happening.

Deadline reports that 20th Century Fox has given a green light to the long gestating sequel, there’s even a start and a tentative release date scheduled. Filming is now slated to kick off in May of 2015, with a public unveiling on the books for June 26, 2016. At least you’ll be able to go to a theater and see Independence Day 2 on Independence Day if you’re so inclined, and this will mark the 20th anniversary of the first film. That is, unless the schedule gets bumped around, which often happens with these things, especially this far out. We’ll have to wait and see, but odds are they’ll try to keep it as close to the 4th of July as they can.