After nearly two years of talk, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed what fans have been chasing since November 2024: Days of Thunder 2 is officially in motion at Paramount, with Cruise locked in to reprise hot-headed NASCAR driver Cole Trickle.
Jonathan Levine – whose sports drama Mr. Irrelevant is also on Paramount's slate – is in talks to direct, working from a screenplay by Will Staples.
Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the 1990 original (and the critically-acclaimed Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt), is back alongside Cruise on the producing side – the same pairing that turned Top Gun: Maverick into a billion-dollar phenomenon in 2022. Filming is expected to begin in early 2027, according to Variety.
RELATED: ‘Miami Vice’ Reboot In Development With ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Director
Cruise had been coy about the project for months. Talking to Today Show Australia earlier this year, he described Days of Thunder as one of several ideas in active development: "We're discussing Days of Thunder and Top Gun: Maverick... there's numerous other films that we're actively working on right now."
Now it has a director attached, a writer, and a producer, which is about as far from "thinking and talking about stories" as it gets.
As mentioned earlier, this isn't Paramount's first attempt at a follow-up to the beloved NASCAR flick: a Days of Thunder reboot series for Paramount+ had previously been pitched, but ultimately fell apart when Tom Cruise – who famously retains script approval over all his projects – pulled the plug.
Screenplay quality check aside, Cruise has a few additional items to tick off his to-do list before he can commit to another nostalgia-backed sequel.
There's the matter of the long-gestating Universal picture set in actual space being helmed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow, American Made); reportedly titled Deeper and to be shot in cooperation with NASA and SpaceX, it follows "an astronaut who encounters a terrifying force while on a deep dive into a never-before-explored trench."
Then there's the Tropic Thunder spin-off centred upon the Cruise career highlight that is Les Grossman, which he briefly alluded to in conversation with B.H. during the Sydney premiere of Mission: Impossible –Dead Reckoning.
RELATED: Remember When Tom Cruise Crushed His Red Bull Racing F1 Test Drive?
It also introduced Cruise to his future wife and Eyes Wide Shut co-star Nicole Kidman, who portrayed Cole's romantic interest: neurosurgeon Dr Claire Lewicki. But before he's back on the track, Cruise has Digger to get through – his dark comedy with Alejandro G. Iñárritu, out via Warner Bros on October 2. After that, it's Days of Thunder 2, a third Top Gun, and whatever else McQuarrie has cooking. The man does not slow down.