It was reported a few days back that there was a small role written for Top Gun 2 which allows for Cruise to reprise his role as the hotshot pilot Maverick.
Now it turns out that isn’t exactly acurate, and that Maverick will be the basis of the proposed sequel which we are lead to assume will still be played by Tom Cruise.
A couple of days ago, Tony Scott opened his mouth and declared not only his interest in returning for another TOP GUN, but his ideas on what he thought that film might be about. And what was that? Essentially, geeks controlling unmanned aircrafts and how that change in our Air Force’s operations came about. Together, these reports brought about some doubt as to how prominent the role of ‘Maverick’ might even be.
But today, McQuarrie himself dropped a very quick line to Vulture, correcting the earlier report indicating that ‘Maverick’ wouldn’t be the primary part:
“There is no Top Gun 2 in which Maverick is not the starring role.”
So Maverick would not be playing a cameo, or a supporting role as an instructor. He will be the star of the film.
Perhaps this will expand beyond Top Gun and actually have Maverick as a veteran in the field actually running combat runs. Of course, it could also be recast and take place very close after the original Top Gun having Maverick returning to compete in the classic Top Gun competition.
They didn’t say that Cruise would be Maverick, just that there is no version of Top Gun being considered where the story doesn’t revolve around that character. While they say the role is made for Cruise, there is nothing official yet saying he is on board. Maverick is.
I suspect that it will be current, and in a world where dogfighting is replaced with computer piloted drones and precision bombings, the current “pilots” don’t know how to actually fly a combat jet and a situation comes into play where they need someone who does.
Maverick comes out of retirement to save the day.
