The recently released trailer for Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day: Resurgence (you can see it by clicking here if you missed it) promised big things for the sequel, but we’ve known for a while now that the character played by Will Smith won’t factor into the movie at all.

However, fans were surprised to learn that his character Steven Hiller was killed off long before the events of the new movie during a test flight, especially as that closes the door to him ever making a return down the line. That was revealed on a viral site for Independence Day: Resurgence, and it turns out that Smith was just as shocked as the rest of us.

“I was working on Suicide Squad during that time,” he explained when asked why he turned down the chance to star in the sequel. “[Independence Day director] Roland [Emmerich] and I had talked about it. The trailer looks really cool. I’m going to be sitting around with tears in my eyes when that one comes out… It was terrible when I found out my character died.”

Emmerich said last year that while scheduling was an issue, Smith was reluctant to star in another father/son story following the failure of After Earth. Whether he made the right decision by choosing Suicide Squad over Independence Day: Resurgence remains to be seen!