Everything We Know About Top Gun: Maverick

Tom Cruise reprises his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, the daring military pilot who made his debut in 1986’s Top Gun. This time around, Maverick is a Naval flight instructor coping with both an increasingly changing world of aerial combat and the rebellious son (Miles Teller) of fallen comrade Nick “Goose” Bradshaw.

Directed by: Joseph Kosinski

Written by: Peter Craig, Justin Marks, Christopher McQuarrie, and Eric Warren Singer

Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glenn Powell, and Ed Harris

Movie Facts

• A sequel to Top Gun has been discussed for years, with the original film’s director, the late Tony Scott, making plans to return beginning in 2010. That iteration would have seen Cruise’s Maverick character in a smaller, supporting role. After numerous script revisions and the passing of Scott in 2012, the project settled on Maverick becoming a flight instructor and being the focus of the film.
• The Pentagon assisted in the production of the film, granting Paramount access to Naval facilities and aircraft and allowing them to mount cameras on planes. In return, the Defense Department was allowed to review the script and supervise production, including the right to request that any footage captured on government property be erased if it accidentally revealed any sensitive or classified information.
• Although Cruise is a pilot in his private life, he was not able to actually fly Navy jets as rumored. While he might be ready and willing to learn, the government prohibits civilians from taking the controls of militarized aircraft.
• The original Top Gun is credited with boosting enlistment in the Navy. Booths were even set up outside cinemas where the movie was playing so people could sign up.
• Maverick’s nemesis in the original film was Iceman, a fellow aerial hotshot played by Val Kilmer. Kilmer is set to return to the role for the sequel.

Paramount Pictures will release Top Gun: Maverick in theaters on June 26, 2020.