Spiner: Okun Not Dead
1 min readBrent Spiner will be returning as Dr. Brakish Okun in the new Independence Day sequel Independence Day: Resurgence, to the surprise of fans of the original who thought the wacky scientist died in the original movie.
“It is the resurgence of Dr. Okun, that is why they call this movie Resurgence, that is the whole idea,’ said Spiner jokingly.
But in truth, Okun is still alive because he never died, contrary to what viewers of the original movie thought. “People jumped to that,” said Spiner. “They always jump to ‘You must be dead’ if you’re laying on the ground. But they’re wrong.”
In the original movie, there was a line recorded where Major Mitchell (Adam Baldwin) said “He’s dead,” after checking on Okun. But Director Roland Emmerich chose not to use the line, leaving the door open for a return of Okun.
Spiner is delighted to be returning as Okun. “I’m back,” he said. “I’m alive; I couldn’t be happier. I hope everyone else is, but no one more than me.”
Independence Day: Resurgence opens June 24.