Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell shares his thoughts on how Top Gun 3 could happen, but has a few parameters for another high-flying sequel. Top Gun: Maverick has taken a long and difficult path to the big screen. The sequel was first announced by Paramount in 2010. A first draft of the script was completed two years later, but when original Top Gun director Tony Scott tragically died by suicide, development of the sequel was put on hold. In 2017, Oblivion's Joseph Kosinski was brought on to spearhead the project and resume pre-production.
Maverick's release was first delayed to give Kosinski and his production team additional time to choreograph and shoot the film's complex dogfight scenes and eventually suffered more delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, 36 years after the release of the first film, Top Gun: Maverick finally soars into theaters Memorial Day weekend. Tom Cruise reprises his iconic role as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell alongside Val Kilmer as his former rival, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky. Powell plays Lieutenant Jake Seresin, callsign "Hangman," who essentially acts as the sequel's version of Iceman.
While Maverick opens in theaters on May 27, some of its stars are already looking ahead toward the future. During a conversation with IndieWire, Powell spoke about the possibility of Top Gun 3 and shared his personal stipulations for the potential sequel. The Top Gun: Maverick star would want a sequel to beat what's come before it or contribute something meaningful to the story. Read what Powell said below:
I think Tom, basically, his sort of motto at the beginning of this thing is, if you can’t beat the earlier movies, there’s no reason in doing it at all. There’s no reason in just adding another movie to the filmography of the world, if it doesn’t contribute or beat the original.
Powell is part of a star-studded ensemble cast that also includes Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, and Monica Barbaro. Teller, who plays the son of Maverick's late RIO and best friend Goose in the movie, previously shared his pitch for Top Gun 3, which would be a direct sequel to Maverick titled Top Gun: Rooster, named after his character's callsign. While Top Gun: Maverick does not have a post-credits scene explicitly setting up a sequel as audiences have come to expect, Teller does present a neat idea (one that also suggests his character survives the events of Maverick).
Kosinski and Cruise's intense commitment to practical filmmaking on Maverick all but ensured it would outdo the original 1986 film, and the overwhelming majority of critics and audiences agree that it has. But Powell raises a good point, as it will be difficult for a sequel to outdo or contribute anything of value to the series after Top Gun: Maverick, which puts a neat bow on the story without leaving too many loose ends. Of course, any decisions regarding a sequel will likely be made by star and producer Cruise, but it might be best to go out on a high note.
Source: IndieWire
