‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Actor Fittingly Revealed to Be Son of ’90s Blockbuster Legend

Top Gun: Maverick star Lewis Pullman is already an established talent on his own, with roles in Amazon Prime’s Outer Range and Hulu’s limited series Catch-22. He also happens to be the son of a fellow actor who showed his skills in a (fictional) fighter jet cockpit: Independence Day star Bill Pullman. In Top Gun: Maverick, Pullman, 29, plays Lt. Robert “Bob” Floyd, the bespectacled weapons system officer paired with pilot Lt. Natasha “Phoenix” Trace (Monica Barbaro).

The elder Pullman, 68, had his own time in time in a jet, fighting aliens instead of humans. Bill played President Thomas J. Whitmore in Independence Day, a role he later reprised in Independence Day: Resurgance (2016). Bill’s other credits include A League of Their Own, Spaceballs, Wyatt Earp, Casper, Lost Highway, Spy Games, and Denzel Washington’s The Equalizer movies. Last year, Bill had a recurring part in Netflix’s Halston limited series and played Det. Harry Ambrose in USA Network’s The Sinner.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pullman said he did get some worthwhile advice from his dad, even though he filmed Independence Day with greenscreen. “He used green screen in Independence Day, but he gave good movement advice, to really convey the physicality of what’s going on,” Pullman said. “Mainly, he offered to make sure this character felt real and grounded and to absorb everything from the real Top Gun pilots, so I could do justice to what they do.”

Pullman also told Entertainment Weekly that he didn’t watch too much television growing up. When his family went to Montana though, they had access to VHS tapes and one of those was Legend with Cruise. “He’s a young ‘un in that and he is incredible. It’s one of those movies that’s so fantastical and mythological, and he had such conviction, I remember thinking that was pretty spectacular,” Pullman said of his co-star.

Of course, Pullman said his father influenced his career. “I go to him with any questions any time,” Pullman told EW. “Nobody can understand the weird problems you might have as well as him, because he knows me better than anyone. He also knows the business better than anyone.”

Coincidentally, Pullman is dating another child of Hollywood. During the Maverick premiere, he walked the red carpet with Rainey Qualley, the 32-year-old daughter of Andie MacDowell, and her ex-husband, Paul Qualley. Pullman and Qualley have been dating since September 2020.

Before starring in Top Gun: Maverick, Pullman was seen in Catch-22 and Outer Range. He also starred in the movies Battle of the Sexes, Bad Times at the El Royale, and Pink Skies Ahead. His next movies are the romantic drama Press Play and the new adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot.