The long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick will feature Miles Teller as Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of the late Nick "Goose" Bradshaw from Top Gun, but which other actors were in the running for the role? In the original Top Gun, Goose's death is a key turning point of both the film and the character arc of Tom Cruise's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. While Maverick was cleared of any wrongdoing for his involvement in the training incident that led to Goose dying, it weighed heavily upon him, and will likely do so even more in Top Gun 2 now that he'll be around a constant reminder of his old friend.
Goose's son only appeared briefly in Top Gun, but will have a far more substantial role in Top Gun: Maverick. Now serving as a Lieutenant, the Top Gun trainee will have to work with and under the person he may well hold at least partially responsible for his father's death, and that's something Maverick himself will have to face up to as well. The film's trailers have already stated that Rooster doesn't trust Maverick in Top Gun 2, and it's shaping up for him to have a key role in the film. That's good news for Teller, but it's one that could've went to a couple of different actors.
Back in 2018, when production on Top Gun 2 was finally ramping up after years of seemingly being unable to take off, it was reported that Teller, Nicolas Hoult, and Glen Powell were all up to play Goose's son. The role as it stood then was just a little bit different, however, with the name "Riot" Wrigley being used for the character, before it was eventually changed to "Rooster" Bradshaw. Other actors whose names had previously been under consideration included Austin Butler and Dylan O'Brien.
Just a week after that initial casting report, it was confirmed that Teller had landed the role of Goose's son, with Variety noting that all three actors had screen tested opposite Cruise, with Teller ultimately winning out. While that was the end of the road for Hoult's potential future in the franchise, it wasn't over for Glen Powell, who impressed Cruise and the producers so much that they not only cast him in a different role, but ended up expanding the part for him. While much of exactly who Powell's "Hangman" is remains unclear right now, it's seemingly one of the more substantial of the new Top Gun recruits in Maverick.
Still, it isn't too difficult to see why Teller won the part in the end. His work in films like Whiplash show not only his dramatic chops, but just how emotional a performance he can wring out of a story with a teacher/student relationship at its core. Top Gun: Maverick presumably won't be quite that intense, but Teller should be a good fit for the role of Goose's son, which is at the very heart of the sequel alongside Cruise.
