Tom Cruise's 'Top Gun 3' officially in the works, but not all cast members are expected to return
Tom Cruise will be back as Capt. Pete Mitchell. With 'Top Gun 3' officially in the works at Paramount, the sequel to director Joseph Kosinski’s 2022 blockbuster 'Top Gun: Maverick' was confirmed by the production house during its CinemaCon presentation in Las Vegas. Earlier, reports said the movie was first revealed to be in development back in 2024 with Ehren Kruger, who co-wrote 'Top Gun: Maverick' with Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie. The film was a commercial hit and a billion-dollar raker. With Kosinski not attached to the new film, the hunt for a new director is on.
With this, the focus also shifts to the cast. The sequel starred Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, Danny Ramirez, Jay Ellis, Greg Tarzan Davis and Manny Jacinto. Also in the mix were Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Charles Parnell, Ed Harris and Bashir Salahuddin. At the time of writing, only Powell and Teller are expected to return for the third film per Variety. Speaking to the outlet, "There is going to be some fun stuff being announced soon…but it was confidential to me. I talk to [Joseph] Kosinski, Cruise and Jerry [Bruckheimer] all the time. There is stuff happening and it sounds very exciting. I don’t know when I’ll be going back…I’m sure there is a jet waiting for me sometime in the future."
In the second film, Teller and Powell are introduced as Lt. Bradley Bradshaw and Lt. Jake "Hangman" Seresin, respectively. Bradshaw is the son of Mitchell's late partner, Goose (Anthony Edwards) who tragically dies in 'Top Gun'. Jake is seen as a cocky and immensely talented pilot who ruffles a few feathers along the way while at Top Gun. On the cast front, it makes sense to bring two of these characters back alongside Cruise from a storyline point of view. There is a possibility that Teller's character takes on the same role as his father, and becomes Cruise's naval aviator partner. Or, there could be another story that sees Jake and Bradshaw fly together under Mitchell's supervision. Much of these theories are pure speculations, but it does make sense if the movie sees new characters replacing the up-and-coming stars from the second film. There is no official release date pencilled yet, and it will be a minute before we hear anything more concrete.