Top Gun: Maverick promises to see Tom Cruise’s aging hero do some serious soul-searching, but the long-awaited sequel will make Goose’s death even harder for him. After over 34 years away from the big screen, Top Gun: Maverick will finally see the return of Tom Cruise’s titular test pilot to cinema screens in 2021. Audiences can expect the story will see Maverick still carrying some of the stories of the first movie with him.
With original Top Gun director/action cinema icon Tony Scott unfortunately deceased, directorial duties fall to the capable hands of 80s nostalgia nerd/Tron 2.0 helmer Joseph Kosinski. However, the new director will have his work cut out for him when it comes to satisfying fans of the original Top Gun, with few of the original movie’s cast returning for the sequel and pivotal figures such as Cruise’s love interest Charlie absent from the action.
But it’s not just the director of Top Gun: Maverick who has a hard job; the movie’s main character will likely be put through the wringer, too. In the original Top Gun, Cruise’s reckless Maverick falls into a depressive spiral after blaming himself for the death of his friend and co-pilot Goose. Although stern instructor Viper is on hand with an anecdote about Maverick’s beloved late father to assuage the character’s guilt, Top Gun: Maverick promises to add a lot more poignancy and anguish to the protagonist’s guilty conscience. Whiplash star/king of intense onscreen emoting Miles Teller will be playing Rooster, Goose's son, in Top Gun: Maverick, meaning the legacy of Goose and the guilt around his death will be weighing much more heavily upon Maverick now that a living, breathing reminder of the tragic pilot is ever-present in the hero's life.
Teller has said that the dynamic will get emotional, and the presence of a funeral featured prominently throughout the Top Gun: Maverick trailer proves this sequel won’t be as fun and light-hearted as the cult classic original. Maverick’s unresolved guilt over Goose’s death is clearly going to be addressed in a big way during the action of the sequel, whether the body in the coffin is that of one of his new students, his old rival/best friend Iceman, his aging mentor, Viper, or a flashback to Goose's funeral. With Maverick feeling guilty and being faced with resentment, the presence of Rooster is bound to prompt a lot of introspection for a character who from, what viewers have seen in the first film at least, hasn't done much of that before.
Like a number of 80s revivals, Top Gun: Maverick’s more serious tone looks set to interrogate a lot of the untapped darker elements left unmentioned in the original Top Gun. The sequel may not be taking the Cobra Kai route and retelling the story from Iceman’s perspective, but it does look likely that Maverick’s older, lonelier incarnation in Top Gun: Maverick will need to consider the cost that his infamous need for speed has taken on his life. Alone and aging, Maverick will most likely be reflecting on a life lived in the danger zone in Top Gun: Maverick, and there’s a good chance that the character’s tragic obsession will be a lot less glamorous and a lot more emotionally resonant in this new installment of the Top Gun franchise.
