Thanks to Tom Cruise, we know now that the upcoming Top Gun sequel will be titled Top Gun: Maverick. In the original 1986 film, Cruise played Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a hotshot fighter pilot for the U.S. Navy who gets sent to the Top Gun Naval Flying School. While there, he becomes a rival to the other students and gets romantically involved with an instructor played by Kelly McGillis. The film also stars Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt, and Michael Ironside. Top Gun received worldwide recognition for the performances of its lead actors, the aerial stunts, action sequences, and the story. As the highest-grossing movie of 1986, it was added by the Library of Congress to the National Film Registry in 2015.

Cruise confirmed that Top Gun 2 is happening back in May, saying that he will return to play the character of Maverick and that the sequel should begin filming sometime over the next year. The Top Gun sequel has been in semi-active development since at least 2010, but the process was slowed by the suicide of Tony Scott, Top Gun's director, back in 2012.

Speaking with Access Hollywood (see the video above), Cruise confirmed that Top Gun will go the subtitle route with its sequel, as many franchises nowadays tend to do. The actor also confirmed that in terms of tone, style, music and so forth, Maverick will be consistent with the original Top Gun movie.

Tom Cruise and Kelly Mcgillis in Top Gun

Now that the movie is finally moving forward, we're starting to learn more of what to expect from the long-awaited Top Gun sequel. Last we heard, the Top Gun: Maverick script was being written by Justin Marks, who also wrote the script for Disney's live-action The Jungle Book remake. Currently, Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski is said to be the front-runner to direct the Top Gun sequel, having previously worked with Cruise on the 2013 sci-fi/action film Oblivion.

As mentioned by Cruise, the Maverick score will be handled by Harry Faltermeyer, who won a Grammy Award for his score in the first Top Gun. Calling it a "competition film" like its predecessor, Cruise is indicating that the Top Gun sequel will focus heavily on the development of his character and will contain many of the same elements that made Top Gun such a hit in 1986, including aviators and jets.

Though excited to be a part of the sequel to the film that helped make him a household name, Cruise is remaining tight-lipped about the Top Gun: Maverick story for the time being. Expect to learn more about the project in general soon, once casting updates start to roll in.

NEXT: Val Kilmer Ready to Return for Top Gun: Maverick

Top Gun: Maverick does not currently have a release date. Cruise can next be seen as the star of the reboot of The Mummy, set for release on June 9, 2017.

Source: Access Hollywood