'Top Gun 3' in the Works, Tom Cruise and 2 More 'Maverick' Stars Set to Return

Get ready to take flight with a third Top Gun movie. Tom Cruise is set to reunite with his Top Gun: Maverick co-stars Miles Teller and Glen Powell for a third iteration of the hit movie franchise, Puck News reports. Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger is reportedly at work on a follow-up to the 2022 box office smash hit, which made $1.49 billion worldwide and was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture.

Maverick producers Jerry Bruckheimer and David Ellison and director Joe Kosinski are also reportedly set to direct or produce. A third Top Gun movie has not been confirmed or announced officially, but Paramount's sequel to the beloved 1986 film was a major hit, becoming the highest-grossing film of Cruise's career. It's unclear when the third Top Gun film will be produced or released, but Puck reports it could be Cruise's next movie after he wraps Mission: Impossible 8 or could come after he films the shot-in-space movie directed by Doug Liman at Universal, which is still in development. 

Cruise is also busy with his new strategic partnership deal with Warner Bros, as he takes on the task of developing and producing original and franchise theatrical titles to star in for the company in a partnership that takes effect this year. Cruise and his production company, as part of the deal, will have an office on the Warner Bros' Burbank, California, lot, but the deal is not exclusive, opening him up to projects like a third Top Gun movie with Paramount. Cruise last starred in a Warner Bros movie for 2014's Edge of Tomorrow, but he's previously worked with the studio on Rock of Ages, The Last Samurai, Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, Interview with the Vampire, Risky Business and The Outsiders. 

In January 2023, Powell, who starred as Lt. Jake "Hangman" Seresin in Maverick, hinted that a follow-up to the 2022 Top Gun film was in the works, joking to Variety that while the details of a sequel were "above [his] pay grade," he felt like the idea for a third movie was "less vague than it was at one point." Teller, who played Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, has also been pushing for a third movie, telling Entertainment Tonight in July 2023 that he was pushing for Cruise to greenlight a third film. "That would be great, but that's all up to TC," Teller said at the time. "It's all up to Tom. I've been having some conversations with him about it. We'll see."