Is Top Gun 3 Happening, Or Does Maverick No Longer Feel The Need For Speed?
"Top Gun: Maverick" did not need to go that hard. The breakout hit of 2022 could have simply cashed in on the world's fond feelings for the original and repeated the same thing with new faces, or given Maverick a grander adventure. Instead, the film played with the tropes of the legacyquel without fully following a tired formula. The result was a film that Steven Spielberg credits with saving theatrical exhibition. It was a summer spectacle like we hadn't seen in years, a film full of nostalgia for cinematic art, with memorable characters, thrills, and some of the best stunts in recent memory.
The movie is a direct sequel to the 1986 fan-favorite "Top Gun," and reunites us with Tom Cruise's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell more than three decades after he graduated from the Top Gun academy. Now, finding himself without much of a future, he is assigned to teach an elite group of pilots for a dangerous mission. It is essentially the final act of the original "Star Wars," but it is Obi-Wan who blows up the Death Star and saves the day.
"Top Gun: Maverick" became a box office juggernaut that could not even be stopped by superheroes. The only thing that could shoot down Maverick was James Cameron's Na'vi epic "Avatar: The Way of Water." But the question remains: After such an epic theatrical run, where's the "Top Gun: Maverick" sequel?
Everything the cast and crew have said about Top Gun 3
Unsurprisingly, most of the cast and crew of "Top Gun: Maverick" are quite keen on returning to make another one — hopefully with less puking. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Miles Teller revealed he'd had conversations with Tom Cruise about returning as Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw. "It's all up to Tom [Cruise]. I've been having some conversations with him about it. We'll see."
Mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer likewise said that it all depended on Tom Cruise. Specifically, he said it depended on Tom Cruise surviving the "Mission: Impossible" movies.
"He's out there risking his life as he usually does, unfortunately. But we haven't had a discussion with him about it yet. [...] You always like to make movies that entertain audiences, if we can come up with a way to bring another one back, of course. Why wouldn't we? Look, it took us 35/36 years to get this one done. You never know."
As for the man who brought Maverick back, director Joseph Kosinski, he took a more common route and put the weight on the script. "Is there another story that is compelling enough that we need to go back?" he told Deadline in late 2022. "It seems to me at the end of this film that Maverick has some gas left in the tank. He's not settling down."
What could happen in Top Gun 3
So, what could actually happen in a third "Top Gun?" Well, it depends on one simple question: Does the franchise keep the focus on the training school, or move the narrative forward? "Top Gun: Maverick" operated in the middle ground, spending a good chunk of its runtime on Maverick teaching a new generation of "kids," except they technically were already graduates and really only trained for this specific mission.
A third film could potentially be faced with the choice of either fully going back to school and preparing the next generation, or focusing on the "big missions" part of the franchise. With Maverick presumable retiring from combat at some point, maybe a new sequel could put more of a focus on Rooster and the other characters who we barely spent enough time with in "Maverick." Have them go on a new mission, and destroy an even bigger base. If "Top Gun: Maverick" was the first "Star Wars," we need "The Empire Strikes Back."
Heck, maybe even put Timothée Chalamet in it. After all, he did watch "Maverick" eight times.