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Top Gun 3: Everything we (think) we know about the sequel

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Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick
Paramount

With Top Gun: Maverick reinvigorating love for all things Top Gun, you might be wondering if there’s going to be a Top Gun 3. After all, if you’ve already watched your way through the best Tom Cruise movies, wouldn’t it be great for there to be a new one?

A cultural sensation right down to there even being IWC Top Gun watches, we’ve got all you need to know about the next installment of the popular franchise from whether there’ll be a Top Gun 3 and what to expect from it.

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Will there be a Top Gun 3?

Yes! It was confirmed in January 2024 that Paramount is developing Top Gun 3. However, an exact date is vague right now as sources have explained that Tom Cruise is currently very busy working on Mission Impossible 8, the sequel to Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning. Recent reports have confirmed that Cruise has made a deal with Warner Bros so other movies may also be made before Top Gun 3.

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Given there was a 36-year delay between Top Gun — released in 1986 — and Top Gun: Maverick, the wait could be a long one, but it won’t be as long as before.

What will Top Gun 3 be about?

No concrete details have been released regarding what Top Gun 3 will be about. According to reports, Ehren Kruger, co-writer of Top Gun: Maverick, is currently working on a screenplay. According to franchise producer and Hollywood behemoth, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joseph Kosinski is also working on a “wonderful story idea for it”. Kosinski was the director of Top Gun: Maverick, and it seems likely he’ll return for Top Gun 3.

At Sundance, Top Gun: Maverick’s Glen Powell explained to Variety, “there is going to be some fun stuff being announced soon…but it was confidential to me. I talk to [Joseph] Kosinski, Cruise and Jerry [Bruckheimer] all the time. There is stuff happening and it sounds very exciting. I don’t know when I’ll be going back…I’m sure there is a jet waiting for me sometime in the future.”

While we don’t have confirmation of a storyline, it seems incredibly likely that we’ll see a new mission for Maverick and his pilots, which may include those featured in the previous movie.

Is there an official Top Gun 3 trailer?

No, there’s no Top Gun 3 trailer yet as the movie isn’t even in production at this time. It’s uncertain when production will begin due to a screenplay still being worked on and Tom Cruise being busy with Mission Impossible 8 and potentially other projects.

Is there a confirmed Top Gun 3 release date?

As mentioned, Top Gun 3 is still in the early stages of pre-production with a script being worked on and only confirmation of its existence. That means there’s no confirmed Top Gun 3 release date and no suggestion as to what year it could be, let alone a specific date. Some sites have suggested it could be as late as 2030 but right now, it’s all speculation. While the movie isn’t in production yet, it’s impossible to determine a release date as it simply depends on how long the entire process takes, as well as a time that Paramount believes is a good time period for success at the box office.

Do we know what the Top Gun 3 cast looks like?

The Top Gun 3 cast hasn’t been confirmed yet. We do know that Tom Cruise will feature because how could you not have a Top Gun movie without Maverick? However, there’s merely speculation on the rest of the cast at this time. Given the screenplay is being written by the same people behind Top Gun: Maverick, it seems likely we’ll see Glen Powell, Miles Teller, and other stars who featured before. The whole roster of new characters in Top Gun: Maverick survives, so we could also see Lewis Pullman and Monica Barbaro as part of the Top Gun 3 cast.

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Jen Allen
Jen Allen
Freelance Writer
Jen Allen is a technology and lifestyle writer with over 10 years of experience.
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