Warning! SPOILERS for Top Gun: Maverick.
Meg Ryan played Nick "Goose" Bradshaw's (Anthony Edwards) wife in the original Top Gun film, but she isn't in Top Gun: Maverick. In 1986, the actress had a small but important role in the Tony Scott cult classic film, portraying Carole Bradshaw. Considering how important Goose's memory is in Top Gun: Maverick, it's curious why she isn't in the new Tom Cruise blockbuster.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick is a sequel that's more than three decades in the making. There was always interest in making a Top Gun follow-up, but Cruise was meticulous with it. Ultimately, he and Paramount landed on a story that puts Maverick at the center, with his relationship with Goose being the core of the film through his conflict with Goose's son Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller). Unfortunately, Carole doesn't appear in Top Gun: Maverick, although the film briefly provides an idea of how Maverick's relationship with the Bradshaws evolved since Goose's death, informing viewers of where his widowed wife is now.
Despite their initial good relationship, Maverick and Rooster had a falling out when the former pulled the latter's papers from the Academy, setting back his career for four years. When pressed by Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly) in Top Gun: Maverick, Mitchell reveals that he did that because Carole didn't want the younger Bradshaw to be a pilot, afraid that he will suffer the same fate as Goose. Maverick continues that Carole made him promise not to let Rooster follow in the footsteps of his dad before she died. Given this, by the time Top Gun: Maverick rolls around, the Bradshaw matriarch has been gone for several years already, hence why Ryan doesn't reprise her Top Gun role as Carole in the sequel. Unfortunately, that's the extent of information given regarding her. Maverick doesn't get into details about how she dies. That being said, he is adamant not to let her son know that the reason he essentially sabotaged Rooster's career is because of Carole.
While Maverick doesn't get into specifics of Carole's death, his story re-affirms the idea that she didn't harbor any ill feelings towards him after Goose's accident in Top Gun. In the original film, Carole and a young Bradley visited TOPGUN on the heels of their family patriarch's freak accident. At that point, Maverick was racked with guilt about what happened. While he was dismissed of all charges following a board inquiry, he remained remorseful about it. More than three decades later, he still harbors some of those feelings as seen in Top Gun: Maverick. Carole, however, never blamed him. In fact, she even consoled Mitchell in the aftermath of the tragedy. From there, it's safe to assume that they continued to be in contact with each other. It's arguably why Bradley felt so betrayed when he found out that Maverick pulled his papers from the Academy.
While Carole is already gone, it's safe to say that she will still be referenced moving forward if Top Gun 3 becomes a reality. Thanks to its commercial and critical success, it's difficult to think that Paramount is stopping at Top Gun: Maverick. With Rooster now firmly established as a primary player in the franchise, so his history will be largely important to any future narratives from the film series.