Tom Cruise Likes Top Gun 3 Story, When Will The Trilogy Be Completed?

By Douglas Helm | Published

tom cruise top gun 3

After the unmitigated success of Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise will return once again for Top Gun 3. Jerry Bruckheimer, producer for both the original 1986 film and its 2022 sequel, told People, “we’re working on” the third film. Not only that, but Cruise seems like he’s on board with the direction, saying, “We pitched Tom a story he liked.”

Don’t Expect It In Theaters Soon

tom cruise top gun 3

But, that doesn’t necessarily mean we should expect to see Tom Cruise in Top Gun 3 soon. Bruckheimer made sure to temper expectations, saying that Cruise is a “very in-demand actor and he’s got a lot of movies lined up.” Still, this is definitely good news for Top Gun fans. 

Top Gun: Maverick

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Val Kilmer in Top Gun: Maverick

Tom Cruise reprised his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell for Top Gun: Maverick, which saw the iconic pilot training a new batch of recruits to take on a mission they may not survive. The movie ended up being a massive hit, grossing close to $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office, making it the biggest box office take of Cruise’s career. On top of that, it was widely acclaimed by both audiences and critics alike, so it’s no surprise that Top Gun 3 is in the works.

Miles Teller Taking Over?

As for what Top Gun 3 will be about is anyone’s guess. If Tom Cruise and Bruckheimer really wanted to set up the franchise for the long future, perhaps the film could be a passing of the torch moment for Cruise’s hero to some of the recruits from Maverick. Miles Teller, who played Goose’s son and a recruit for the mission, was a particular standout.

It would be easy to see Teller leading the franchise going forward if Cruise is ready to move on after Top Gun 3.

Mission: Impossible

Then again, Tom Cruise isn’t one to shy away from committing to a long-term franchise. Cruise is still starring in the Mission: Impossible films decades after starring in the first film in 1996. Top Gun 3 could be the beginning of a very long string of blockbuster sequels, especially if it finds the same level of success as Maverick.

Maverick will definitely be hard to follow-up, but getting the same cast and creative team together will hopefully create the same recipe for success.

Warner Bros. Discovery Deal

top gun: maverick top gun 3

In the meantime, Tom Cruise has quite a few projects lined up outside of Top Gun 3, which is why Bruckheimer warned it may take a little while for the threequel to come. Amongst the most mysterious of Cruise’s projects is the recent deal Cruise signed with Warner Bros Discovery. Cruise signed a deal to produce new and franchise theatrical films for the company, but what those films will be is anyone’s guess at this point.

Upcoming Projects

top gun: maverick, tom cruise

We’ll surely hear more about those films eventually, but for now the only Tom Cruise film with an official release date is Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, which is set to come out in 2025. Cruise is also set to star in a film directed by Doug Liman and a film directed by Alejandro G Inarritu.

Source: People