"Top Gun 3" in Works with Tom Cruise Set to Return

Tom Cruise is returning for “Top Gun 3,” Paramount announced during its presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

Jerry Bruckheimer will also return as a producer for the threequel.

The sequel to director Joseph Kosinski’s 2022 blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” was first revealed to be in the works back in 2024 with scribe Ehren Kruger, who co-wrote the project with Christopher McQuarrie and Eric Warren Singer.

“Top Gun: Maverick” became a blockbuster hit when many theaters were still shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic.

It grossed $1.5 billion at the global box office from a $170 million budget, giving movie theaters the jolt they needed when times were tough.

Cruise returned for “Maverick” 36 years after he debuted his hotshot pilot in the 1986 original. His Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell went back to the famous flight school to teach a new batch of pilots how to successfully run a dangerous mission.

He also crossed paths with Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of his best friend Pete “Goose” Bradshaw, who died in the first movie.

Together, they’re able to complete the mission with their fellow trainees and return home in one piece.

Alongside Cruise and Teller, the “Maverick” cast had several up-and-coming stars. Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, Danny Ramirez, Jay Ellis, Greg Tarzan Davis, and Manny Jacinto all played new pilots.

The cast also included Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Charles Parnell, Ed Harris, and Bashir Salahuddin.

It also marked the final film role for Cruise’s original “Top Gun” co-star Val Kilmer, who played Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. Kilmer later died in 2025.