As William Sharp of armageddon in Independence day?

This sequel does not occur in the Armageddon universe besides which Wille Sharpe was an Air Force Colonel and Fichtner's character in ID is an Army General. Officers don't move across different branches of the military and an astronaut has rather a different skill set than a battlefield commander.

As it is often said, I would watch William Fichtner read from the telephone book, if they still existed, for endless hours. Why get caught up in picayune details. He's tremendously talented and I'm always happy to see his work. What I don't understand is why he's seemingly the best kept secret in America.

I'm on the Fichtner train big time. I think he's pretty widely recognized by audiences but he's pretty low key and low drama in his personal life. Many less talented people who are more carefully managed and promoted to the gossip rags end up with better name recognition although not better careers.