Is Top Gun 3 On The Way?

Top Gun: Maverick is the most successful Tom Cruise movie, and Miles Teller has now spoken up about the possibility that Top Gun 3 is on the way.

By Dan Lawrence | Updated

miles teller

Top Gun: Maverick was a cinema sequel that was decades in the making. After several delays, pre and post covid, the Tom Cruise-led aviation flick finally premiered in theatres this summer, 36 years after the 1986 Tony Scott-directed original Top Gun. Now, thanks to the jet-setting success that has been Top Gun: Maverick at the box office, Deadline reports that Top Gun 3 could be on the way. 

Miles Teller, callsign Rooster in Top Gun: Maverick was one of the leading lights of the Joeseph Kosinski-directed sequel, portraying the son of Goose, the wingman to Tom Cruise’s Pete Maverick’ Mitchell in the original movie who sadly perishes. Deadline got the scoop on a possible Top Gun 3 flick from Miles Teller’s conversation with Kevin Frazier of Entertainment TonightFrazier asked whether plans for another Top Gun sequel were in the works, to which Teller replied, “I’ve been having some conversations with him [Tom Cruise] about it. We’ll see.” Miles Teller then added; “That would be great, but that’s all up to TC, it’s all up to Tom.”

Given Miles Teller has already had conversations with Top Gun: Maverick lead star and producer Tom Cruise about the possibility of a Top Gun 3, the likelihood of the project occurring is certainly within the realms of possibility, especially when you consider the strong box office performance of the Top Gun: Maverick. After the film’s first week in theatres, GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT reported how the film was projected to eclipse Tom Cruise’s record for strongest performance at the domestic box-office set in 2006 by War of the Worlds with a figure of $234 million. Top Gun: Maverick has not only eclipsed that mark, but it has become the first Tom Cruise movie to gross a billion dollars worldwide at the box office. The film currently stands at a gross of just over $586 million at the domestic box office and $1.13 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2022. 

The eye-watering box office stats of Top Gun: Maverick will surely be making Tom Cruise think long and hard about suiting up again for Top Gun 3 and more often without another 36-year delay, especially given Cruise would be well into his nineties if that were to be the case. However, before Top Gun 3 can go ahead, Tom Cruise has another mighty movie franchise to bring to the big screen. Cruise is currently filming the latest Mission Impossible franchise entry, the second entry of a two-parter of films dubbed Dead Reckoning, with the first installment of the franchise send-off hitting theatres next July. The last entry of the Ethan Hunt spy series, Mission Impossible: Fallout previously held the record for highest-grossing Tom Cruise movie so expect Dead Reckoning Part One to chase after Top Gun: Maverick’s record.

Given that Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One and Part Two are at the forefront of Tom Cruise’s current schedule with release dates in 2023 and 2024 and that they’re Cruise’s curtain call on the franchise, it more than clears a path for Top Gun 3 to land in theatres in the summer of 2025. Watch this space to see if Tom Cruise feels the need for speed one more time.