Fans ofTop Gunhave been waiting for 35 years for a sequel, and the wait is over.
Filmed in 2018 and initially slated for a summer 2019 release,Top Gun: Maverickwas pushed to the summer of 2020 to allow for “production to work out all the complex flight sequences,” according toDeadline. Then the world exploded, with a global pandemic leading Paramount Pictures to push the movie’s release several times in 2020 and 2021 to avoid movie theater closures and to maximize potential audiences.
Fans of this classic waited a long time to see their favorite pilots back on the silver screen, as the film finally was released this year. Considering that the original movie has a rabid fan following and was one of the biggest films of the ’80s, we could expect the new movie to be one of the biggest cinematic events of the new year.
Here is everything fans need to know aboutTop Gun: Maverick.
Updated: July 2022 byRaquel Morales: If you are excited aboutTop Gun: Maverick, you’ll be happy to read this updated article that provides the trailer, cast, plot, release date, and everything else you need to know about the movie.
Top Gun: Maverick: The Plot
Obviously, the officialplot ofTop Gun: Maverickwas a secret until the film came out, but fans made some guesses based on promotional teasers and trailers. In the movie, Maverick trains the next generation of Navy aviators, but things will turn complicated when he is assigned to train a group for a special high-risk mission.
The sequel took audiences back into the world of the original. The official synopsis for the film reads:
“After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialised mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt Bradley Bradshaw, call sign ‘Rooster’, the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt Nick Bradshaw, aka ‘Goose.’ Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.”
We might even see new versions of our favorite scenes as pictures of the film setshowed Tom Cruise and Jennifer Connellyrecreating the famous motorcycle scene from the first movie. Maverick may be a new instructor with a new love interest but has more or less remained the same person he always was, pushing limits and loving it.
Top Gun: Maverickalso features some impressive practical stunts, as Cruise and the other actors have been flying real fighter jets instead of relying on CGI, and Cruise insists he does the brunt of his own stunts as usual. It will certainly be a unique experience worth the wait.
Top Gun: Maverick: The Cast
Tom Cruisereprises his iconic role as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a flight instructor known for his fearless stunts and pirouettes in the air. The sequel also features a return from Val Kilmer in his role as Lt. Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. Cruise was adamant about having the actor reprise his role. ProducerJerry Bruckheimer said:
“We have to have Val, we have to have him back. We have to have him in the film. And he was the driving force. We all wanted him, but Tom was really adamant that if he’s going to make anotherTop Gun, Val had to be in it.”
It’s interesting to see how this works since the beloved actor has suffered from throat cancer and now uses technology to speak.
Related:Top Gun: Maverick Shot More Footage Than Entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Top Gun: Maverickalso features new characters played by A-list celebrities. Miles Teller star as Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s best friend, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, who passed away in the original film. Rooster is a pilot trainee, and fans can expect some friction between him and Maverick. Jennifer Connelly also joins the cast as Penny Benjamin, daughter of a former admiral and Maverick’s love interest in the new film.
Other actors include Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, and Monica Barbaro.
Release & Box Office Reception
Top Gun: Maverickwas screened at CinemaCon to a crowd reportedly bursting with excitement. The film was released in theaters in the U.S. and Canada on July 09, 2025. It will also be available to stream on Paramount+ 45 days after its theatrical debut. This means the film will come out nearly three years after its initial release date, but it was worth the wait because fans couldn’t be more excited. After all, the film was originally slated to hit the masses back in the summer of 2020.
Indeed, as expected, the reception ofTop Gun: Maverickat the box office couldn’t have been better. The film became Paramount’s highest-grossing film, surpassing such films asTitanic, making it the highest-grossing Paramount film of all time.Top Gun: Maverickis an undeniable success. The movie has already earned $601.9 million in the US, surpassingTitanic’s total gross of $600.7 million. It has also grossed over a billion dollars at the worldwide box office.
Related:These Action Movie Stars Do Their Own Stunts (And Some Who Refuse To)
In the face of such success, Brian Robbins, President and CEO of Paramount Pictures, was proud when, in one of his last public statements, he said:
“Top Gun: Maverickis a phenomenal film, and we are deeply proud to celebrate this tremendous achievement alongside Tom Cruise, our filmmakers and cast, our marketing and distribution teams, and of course all the new and original Top Gun fans, without whom this would not have been possible.”
The wait was worth it in the opinion of fans and critics. So the existence of another film that continued with the franchise would not be unexpected.
Will the Top Gun Franchise Expand?
The unprecedented success ofTop Gun: Maverickis living proof that fans have been waiting for this sequel with bated breath. Such is the success that the idea of aTV show about the new generationis not unreasonable. There is no doubt that TV studios would be very interested in repeating the success that the film is obtaining, and the format would give them the opportunity to do so and extend said success for several years.
The possibilities are endless, and time will tell if any come true.
