Two years before their epic blockbuster Independence Day shattered box office records in the summer of 1996, Dean Devlin co-wrote the sci-fi cult classic Stargate with director Roland Emmerich. While the film put up decent numbers at the box office, taking in $71.5 million domestically and $196.5 million worldwide, it became an even bigger hit on the small screen with the launch of Stargate SG-1, which ran for 10 seasons and spawned numerous spinoffs. Now that their sequel Independence Day: Resurgence is set to hit theaters next weekend, both Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich are eyeing a reboot trilogy of their original movie.

We first reported on this Stargate reboot in 2014, with a report surfacing the following year that Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's Independence Day sequel was put on hold so they could make Stargate. That obviously never happened, with Independence Day: Resurgence moving ahead instead, but in an interview with Variety, Dean Devlin explained why a reboot is necessary, instead of a sequel to the first Stargate movie. Here's what he had to say.

"It's not a story that can take place 20 years later. So the only way to really tell that trilogy is to go back from the beginning and start the story all over again. It was taken away from us, and it's tough to have your children raised by other parents, even if they do a very good job. ... For us, it's not putting down what has been done. It's to let us finish telling our story."

We reported last year that this sci-fi reboot has brought on Independence Day 2 writers Nicolas Wright and James A. Woods. It isn't known if they will actually be writing all three movies in this proposed trilogy. When asked if any of their ideas for this trilogy has changed, Dean Devlin had this to say.

"At the time that we made it, every single studio in Hollywood had told me that science fiction was dead. And Roland and I really love science fiction, so I think that's partly why it worked and resonated. It wasn't a cynical attempt to try and make something that was crowd-pleasing. Today, studios tend to not think of movies as trilogies or sequels (but) as cinematic universes. So as we've been developing it, we found all these avenues that allow it to expand. The foundation is exactly the same as what we wanted to do, but now the possibilities are much wider."

As of now, MGM hasn't announced a release date or revealed when production will begin, but Roland Emmerich is set to direct. MGM president Jonathan Glickman also revealed that he felt it was right to bring Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin back to revitalize the franchise that had been dormant for so long. Stay tuned for more on this Stargate reboot trilogy as more details emerge.