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Top Gun: Maverick captivated moviegoers in 2022. The highly-anticipated sequel was released 36 years after the first film became a blockbuster in 1986. Top Gun: Maverick followed Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell as he trained a new set of Top Gun pilots, including the son of his late best friend, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw.
The sequel went on to become one of the highest-grossing movies of 2022 with over $1.4 billion at the box office. Top Gun: Maverick also scored a number of Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. Even though it’s been nearly 2 years since Top Gun: Maverick’s release, everyone’s been craving Top Gun 3. In January 2024, it was announced that a third Top Gun movie is now in the works. Hollywood Life is breaking down what we know about Top Gun 3.
Will There Be A ‘Top Gun 3?’
Paramount is currently working on Top Gun 3, according to Puck. The studio has hired Top Gun: Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger to write the script for Top Gun 3. Along with Joe Kosinski coming back as the director, the plan is for Tom Cruise to return, as well as Miles Teller and Glen Powell. The film development is still in the very early stages, so don’t expect to see Top Gun 3 on the big screen any time soon.
Top Gun: Maverick producer Jerry Bruckheimer didn’t say no to Top Gun 3, but it all hinges on Tom. “He’s in the middle of shooting Mission: Impossible 8, and that’s his focus. Once he finishes, we can have a conversation. But then he goes up in space [for an untitled Universal movie] and something else. So I have no idea,” Jerry told The Hollywood Reporter.
Director Joseph Kosinski also hinted that Top Gun 3 isn’t out of the question. “Is there another story that is compelling enough that we need to go back?” Joseph told Deadline. “It seems to me at the end of this film that Maverick has some gas left in the tank. He’s not settling down.”
How Did ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ End?
Maverick is assigned to train a group of elite Top Gun graduates to destroy an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant in an underground bunker. This puts him face-to-face with Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of his late best friend. Rooster and Maverick are estranged after Maverick pulled his Naval Academy papers, setting Rooster back 4 years.
Maverick ends up leading the strike package in the mission, with Rooster, Payback, Fanboy, Phoenix, and Bob following. They are able to destroy the plant, but they are caught in enemy fire. Maverick decides to sacrifice his F/A-18E to save Rooster. Everyone is called back to the carrier after it appears Maverick is dead, but Rooster stays behind to try and find Maverick. Rooster winds up saving Maverick, but his plane is shot down.
Maverick and Rooster devise a plan to steal an old F-14 from the air base they destroyed. They run into Su-57s as they try to make it back to the carrier. They destroy two Su-57s before running out of ammunition. Just when it looks like the third Su-57 is going to take them down for good, Hangman arrives to save the day. The mission helps Maverick and Rooster mend their relationship. The film ends with Rooster helping Maverick with his P-51 Mustang. Maverick and his girl, Penny, fly off into the sunset in the plane.
What Has Tom Cruise Said About ‘Top Gun 3?’
Tom hasn’t directly addressed another trip to the skies after Top Gun: Maverick. He has been pretty busy filming back-to-back Mission: Impossible movies. He recently signed a new deal with Warner Bros.
Variety asked Jerry in January 2023 if he had spoken to Tom at all about Top Gun 3 since interest is at an all-time high. “Not yet. He’s in the middle of shooting Mission: Impossible. He’s got a lot of very difficult hard stunts he’s doing, so it’s not the time to take his attention away from what is important to him right now,” Jerry said.
While Jerry hasn’t had a conversation with Tom yet about Top Gun 3, co-star Miles Teller has. Miles is down for a third movie and has spoken to Tom about it. “That would be great, but that’s all up to TC,” Miles told ET. “It’s all up to Tom. I’ve been having some conversations with him about it. We’ll see.”
Cast Reaction To ‘Top Gun 3’
Back in August 2023, Greg “Tarzan” Davis, a.k.a. Coyote, spoke exclusively with HollywoodLife about Top Gun 3. He was understandably cryptic about any official plans.
“You know, we’ve been basking in the glory of this championship, so I don’t think anybody… we had kind of said like, ‘Hey, will we do a 3? Would you do a 3?’ We had that discussion, but right now we’re just trying to get it out there to the public, in theaters, and now it’s about to head to digital on August 23, and then it’s going to go actually to hard copy Blu-Ray 4K on November 1. So maybe after that, we can discuss about a Part 3,” Greg told HollywoodLife.
Glen Powell, a.k.a. Hangman, pointed out that a Top Gun 3 would all depend on the story. “I think Tom, basically, his sort of motto at the beginning of this thing is, if you can’t beat the earlier movies, there’s no reason in doing it at all,” Glen told IndieWire. “There’s no reason in just adding another movie to the filmography of the world, if it doesn’t contribute or beat the original.”
He continued, “So, is there going to be a Top Gun 3? If we can figure out more crazy things to do with airplanes or a story that it is compelling and emotional and adventurous and romantic and all those things like, I am sure Tom would be down. But that’s above my pay grade. Maybe you can pitch it to him when you talk to him!”
In December 2023, Glen was asked about Top Gun 3 again. “I talk to Tom all the time, but we don’t talk about Top Gun 2,” he told Extra. “He and Jerry [Bruckheimer], if they want to make Top Gun 2 — or 3, technically — he has my number.”
Lewis Pullman, a.k.a. Bob, would love to do a Top Gun 3, but he doesn’t want to be disappointed if it doesn’t happen. “It’s a dangerous path to go down because then I’ll get my hopes up, you know? And I know how rare it is, like the likelihood of this movie even happening, it’s so slim,” Lewis said in a ComicBook.com interview. “I mean, Tom kept saying this movie is like hitting a bullet with a bullet, like the amount of precision and accuracy that we have to have to make it a success, it’s really like we better buckle down and really put our all into it.
