You don’t generate $1.5 billion in global box office receipts, “save” the business of traditional cinema, and set a new standard for practical effects like Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick has without sparking franchise conversations. Hence why Top Gun 3 is now in development over at Paramount, according to Deadline:
“Top Gun: Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger [is] currently writing a draft… The word is that the project would reunite Tom Cruise with Maverick‘s Miles Teller and Glen Powell as well as producers Jerry Bruckheimer and David Ellison. Joe Kosinski will reportedly either direct or produce.”
The report comes to light in the wake of the news that Tom Cruise — who reprised his iconic role as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell — has recently inked a non-exclusive pact with Warner Bros; which may or may not impact the “last real movie star’s” ongoing shooting schedule.
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Currently, Mr Cruise has already committed to both Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning (Part 2) and the long-rumoured space movie collab with Doug Liman and NASA to be shot on location (yes, really). Then there’s the matter of a potential Tropic Thunder spin-off with Christopher McQuarrie. Suffice it to say, the 61-year-old has quite a full plate.
The possibility of Top Gun 3 had apparently been discussed between Tom Cruise and co-star Miles Teller all the way back in July 2022.
“That would be great, but that’s all up to [Tom Cruise],” Miles Telle said of reprising his own role as Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, son of the late Goose, during an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“It’s all up to Tom. I’ve been having some conversations with him about it. We’ll see.”
For context, Top Gun: Maverick required more than 30 years of persuasion before Tom Cruise decided it was a project actually worth undertaking.
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“We definitely wanted to do another after the first one became such a success,” legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer revealed to BH.
“But it took [director] Joe Kosinski who came up with the story. We flew to Paris where Tom was filming Mission: Impossible at the time, we pitched him the story.”
“Joe had a lookbook. He had a poster. And he pitched what you saw. And Tom loved it. That’s how we got it going.”
“After that, Tom picked up the phone, called the head of Paramount, and said: ‘I want to make another Top Gun.’ And here we are… talking about it with you.”
Keep an eye out below for updates on Top Gun 3 as they come.
Everything We Know About Top Gun 3 (2024)
Has Top Gun 3 been confirmed?
As of January 2024, Top Gun 3 has been greenlit for development by Paramount Pictures with Top Gun: Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger currently penning a draft of the proposed screenplay.
Not entirely surprising considering Top Gun: Maverick wasn’t just the world’s highest-grossing summer blockbuster of 2022 — it was the world’s highest-grossing film of 2022 period (overtaking Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness). And Paramount’s second-best-performing film of all time behind James Cameron’s Titanic.
In other words, a trilogy was almost inevitable.
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What could the third Top Gun movie be about?
Aside from making the fighter pilot grind resemble every hot-blooded bloke’s dream, a third movie could take any number of directions.
The most obvious route has been established in Top Gun: Maverick with Teller’s Rooster. Now that he’s a more complete fighter pilot who’s overcome all the emotional baggage he carried surrounding:
a) the death of his father
b) Cruise’s Maverick in the grand scheme of said death
and c) Cruise’s Maverick pulling his application from the US Navy, thereby setting his career back several years…
… the torch is ready to be passed on, allowing old Captain Pete Mitchell to retire and start a family with Jennifer Connelley’s Penny Benjamin.
But knowing Tom Cruise, the action flick fixture — who’s still dangling off airborne planes despite being in his 60s — won’t sign on for another Top Gun unless he receives a minimum hour of screentime involving an F/A-18 Hornet’s cockpit. The man just refuses to be benched.
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Do we know the Top Gun 3 cast members?
Tom Cruise is essentially the only cast member guaranteed at this stage.
While Miles Teller and Glen Powell have not only expressed interest but are reportedly in the mix — and we imagine the likes of Jon Hamm, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, as well as Charles Parnell would also be eager for the gig — not further casting details surrounding the Top Gun 3 has been confirmed yet.
“For [Tom Cruise] to share Top Gun with me and a lot of these other young actors, it’s just been such a wild ride, and it’s still going,” said Miles Teller.
In the same vein, currently, there’s no guarantee director Joseph Kosinski will return to personally helm the film. Especially given his equally ambitious upcoming projects like Apple’s Formula One movie starring Brad Pitt with real-life seven-time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton involved (and beyond).
When is the Top Gun 3 release date?
Top Gun 3 doesn’t have a release date. Yet.
Is there a Top Gun 3 trailer?
There definitely isn’t a Top Gun 3 trailer, either.
Check out our one-on-one interview with Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, and Mr Bruckheimer here plus our review of Top Gun: Maverick here.
