Tom Cruise's latest career update is bad news for Top Gun 3. In 2022, the actor revisited one of his most iconic roles ever as the daredevil pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, who was originally introduced in director Tony Scott's Top Gun. Despite the long wait for the sequel which was further delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, Top Gun: Maverick proved to be worth the wait with the film receiving glowing reviews from both critics and the general movie-going audience.
Joseph Kosinski's Top Gun follow-up introduced a string of neophytes including Nick "Goose" Bradshaw's (Anthony Edwards) son, Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), Maverick’s real successor, Hangman (Glen Powell), and Phoenix (Monica Barbaro) among others. At its core, however, Top Gun: Maverick is still Mitchell's story. It sees Maverick returning to TOPGUN to lead a dangerous and highly classified mission. Due to its critical and box office success, it's difficult to imagine Paramount not being interested in doing Top Gun 3, but getting the threequel off the ground may not be as easy as it seems.
On the heels of the success of Top Gun: Maverick, news broke out that Cruise has at least four new films lined up. All in collaboration with frequent creative partner, Christopher McQuarrie, the actor is reportedly developing a new action franchise, a musical, and something with Tropic Thunder's Les Grossman. That's on top of the possible Edge of Tomorrow sequel, a space-set project with director Doug Liman, and, of course, the Mission: Impossible film series. Assuming that all of these will move forward, they can easily take over the next decade of Cruise's career, leaving Top Gun 3 at the bottom of its priority list. Since the threequel still hasn't been officially greenlit (despite the success of Top Gun: Maverick), Cruise can focus on his other planned endeavors. This means that it would take a while before the next Top Gun film happens, if at all.
Why Top Gun 3 Needs Cruise and Maverick
There is a possibility that Paramount moves forward with Top Gun 3 without Cruise, but that's going to be a big risk — that's if the actor even allows that to happen. Known for his passion for filmmaking, he has been extensively involved in all of his projects. Cruise is particularly protective of the Top Gun franchise. Much has been said about how his devotion to making sure that they do Top Gun: Maverick correctly. He spent years deciding on the movie's narrative, as well as, developing new technology to film the aerial shots. So while Top Gun: Maverick perfectly wrapped up Mitchell's story and even if the daredevil pilot will no longer be the focal point of Top Gun 3, Cruise would have to still be creatively involved in it. Not only is he the face of the franchise, but he's also a big part of Top Gun's behind-the-scenes success.
If Cruise was able to wait more than three decades to do a Top Gun follow-up, chances are that he isn't keen on rushing a threequel, despite the immense success of Top Gun: Maverick. If anything, after the overwhelmingly positive reviews for the sequel, he would be more meticulous about revisiting the story for a potential Top Gun 3 to preserve its legacy. He could also decide to walk away from it totally; after all, Top Gun: Maverick's ending can also effectively function as the series' end.