Los Angeles [US], April 18 (HBTV): Hollywood actor Tom Cruise is set to return for Top Gun 3, with the makers confirming the project at CinemaCon.
According to Variety, Paramount announced Cruise’s return to the franchise along with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and confirmed that the film is officially in development.
A sequel to Joseph Kosinski’s 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, the third instalment was first revealed to be in development in 2024 with writer Ehren Kruger. The film was a major commercial success, even as theatres were recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It collected USD 1.5 billion at the global box office against a budget of USD 170 million.
Cruise reprised his role in the second instalment, 36 years after debuting as Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell in the 1986 original. In the film, his character returns to a flight school to train a new batch of pilots for a high-risk mission.
During the training, he reconnects with Bradley Bradshaw, played by Miles Teller, the son of his late best friend from the first film.
Apart from Cruise and Teller, the film featured Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, Danny Ramirez, Jay Ellis, Greg Tarzan Davis and Manny Jacinto.
In May 2025, Christopher McQuarrie, director of Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning, shared updates on his upcoming collaborations with Cruise, including Top Gun 3.
According to Deadline, McQuarrie said in an interview that the sequel to Top Gun: Maverick is 'already in the bag,' with a framework for the story in place.
'It wasn't hard,' McQuarrie said, adding, 'I thought it would be, and that's a good place to go from is you walk into the room going, "Come on, what are we going to do?"'
He emphasised that the challenge lies not in developing the story but in executing it and capturing the emotional depth that resonates with audiences. (ANI)