After a few stray hints from Top Gun‘s producer Jerry Bruckheimer and co-star Val Kilmer, we’ve finally got confirmation that a Top Gun sequel is in the works—more than 30 years after the original hit theaters.
Tom Cruise announced the sequel is “definitely happening” Tuesday during a profoundly uncomfortable interview on the Australian talk show Sunrise.
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Though there aren’t many details on the sequel’s storyline quite yet, it looks like Cruise will reprise the role of Maverick, a cavalier, hotshot pilot with a big ego and a redeeming sensitive streak.
Back in 2015, Val Kilmer said he got offered a role in the reboot, writing on Facebook that it’s “not often you get to say ‘yes’ without reading the script.” It’s unclear if he’ll be playing Iceman, Maverick’s rival in the skies and fellow deliverer of corny lines like “you can be my wingman any time.”
In January 2016, Bruckheimer revealed he’d met with Cruise to “discuss a little Top Gun 2,” though he hasn’t explicitly confirmed he’ll be a part of the project.
David Ellison, the CEO of the production company Skydance, offered a few details on the film back in 2015, saying it’d potentially offer a look at what being a fighter pilot in the Navy “has turned into today.”
“It is very much a world we live in today where it’s drone technology and fifth generation fighters,” he said, according to Variety. “It’s really exploring the end of an era of dogfighting and fighter pilots, and what that culture is today.”
He seemed to add that Cruise would, indeed, make a return to the screen to reprise his high-flying role.
“There is an amazing role for Maverick in the movie, and there is no Top Gun without Maverick, and it is going to be Maverick playing Maverick,” Ellison said in 2015.
During his interview on Sunrise, Cruise said he and the cast would start filming the sequel “probably in the next year.” Until then, we’ll just put on the original’s kickass soundtrack and wonder if Cruise plans to recreate that epic volleyball scene.