Tom Cruise Offers a Delightfully Vague ‘Top Gun 3’ Update, and Fans Are Here for It
Few sequels have soared quite like ‘Top Gun: Maverick‘. The 2022 follow-up grossed roughly $1.5 billion on a $170 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing film of Tom Cruise’s career. It also earned 6 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, making a ‘Top Gun 3’ all but inevitable.
That next chapter has taken shape slowly. Reports first surfaced in January 2024 that a third film was in development, but Paramount only made it official at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on April 16, 2026, with Cruise confirmed to return as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is also back, and the studio said a script is underway.
Now, Cruise has offered his first update since his return was confirmed. During an appearance on ‘The Jennifer Hudson Show’ to promote his new movie ‘Digger’, the actor kept the details to a bare minimum.
He said Maverick will be in it, that there will be fighter jets, that it is going to be cool, and that there will be cool music, before adding that this was about all he could reveal. Short as it was, the playful tease quickly spread online.
While Cruise kept quiet, other details have emerged over time. Frequent collaborator Christopher McQuarrie is reportedly co-writing the script alongside Ehren Kruger, both of whom earned Oscar nominations for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’. Kruger had first been reported as the sequel’s writer back in 2024.
The director’s chair is a bigger question. Joseph Kosinski, who helmed ‘Maverick’, reportedly won’t be returning because he’s busy with a ‘Miami Vice’ movie and other projects. That leaves Paramount searching for a new filmmaker, and industry watchers believe the choice will reveal a lot about the direction of the film.
New trailer for the Top Gun sequel, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ starring Tom Cruise. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/6yM8cpuFLf
— Project Big Screen (@ProjBigScreen) December 16, 2019
Cast details remain unconfirmed beyond Cruise. Still, it has been widely reported that Miles Teller’s Rooster and Glen Powell’s Hangman are expected to return. Powell previously teased that he knew when production would start but refused to share any further details.
Powell’s potential involvement has become a major talking point. Since ‘Maverick’, he has become one of Hollywood’s most commercially significant actors, giving the threequel extra star power if he climbs back into the cockpit.
The story itself is still a mystery, but there have been hints. Kosinski previously suggested the next film would see Maverick grappling with an existential crisis. He also described it as “one last ride,” signaling Cruise won’t be taking a back seat in the story.
A new trailer for ‘DIGGER’ has been released.
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) September 9, 2026
In theaters October 2. pic.twitter.com/kTEeFZI14E
That framing would make sense for a franchise built on legacy. ‘Maverick’ honored the original while introducing a new generation of pilots, and it also marked Val Kilmer’s final film role as Iceman. Before ‘Top Gun 3’ comes into focus, Cruise has other priorities. ‘Digger’, the Alejandro González Iñárritu satire he previewed at CinemaCon, arrives in theaters this weekend amid soft box office projections.
He’s also set to reteam with fighter-jet-adjacent material in ‘Days of Thunder 2’, where he’ll co-star with Anne Hathaway. For now, fans will have to settle for jets, music, and Cruise’s promise that it’ll all be cool. Knowing his track record, that might be more than enough.
What are you most excited to see in Top Gun 3?
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