Top Gun: Maverick should have been out by now with the original release date of June 26, 2020, but alas due to the global scenario the fans have to wait another six months before we see Maverick on screen again. As if 30 years wasn’t enough of a delay!
Top Gun: Maverick is a direct sequel to the 1986 movie Top Gun, which was one of the most successful movies of the time. Despite its success, the film received mixed reviews. However, the action sequences, stunts, and the special effects made it one of the top movies of the time and a cultural phenomenon with Tom Cruise at its head.
Now after almost 30 years, fans of the movie get the sequel which has continuously been delayed over the years and is one of the most anticipated movie sequels in recent times.
So, keep reading to get all the information about the upcoming movie and also some of the fan theories:
Top Gun: Maverick Release Date
The movie was given the green light in 2018 and production on the movie began back in 2018 and ended by June 2019. When told of speculations by the fans over why the movie was delayed so much, Cruise commented that he doesn’t make movies just for the sake of it.
He also said that “I honestly never thought I would make it,”. “We just started talking. And I realised that there were things that we could accomplish cinematically. And I started getting excited about this big challenge of, ‘How do we do it?”
The sequel was meant to release back in July 2019, but a decision was made by paramount pictures to push the release by a full year as they needed to work on the flight and action sequences.
But the delays for Top Gun: Maverick wasn’t over yet and the release date of June 2020 was scrapped yet again due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hopefully now hopefully the movie will release on its scheduled date of December 23, 2020, without any further delay.
Who’s starring in Top Gun: Maverick?
Thirty years is a really long time for a movie to wait for its sequel, and while the characters of the movie might not have aged as much, the cast members of the movie unfortunately have.
It then becomes a matter of speculation, who would be back from the original movie? Will there be any recasts or will the movie feature an entirely new cast?
Well, the Top Gun franchise can’t be imagined without Tom Cruise, so of course, he reprises his role as LT Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and another familiar face making a comeback is his rival Val Kilmer aka LT Tom “Iceman” Kazansky.
Though there has been no information provided by the Director on how the relation of the two rivals will be depicted in the movie or whether the past 30 years have changed their rivalry or not.
Miles Teller, the newest addition to the cast of the movie will be playing the role of Bradley “rooster” Bradshaw who is the son of LTJG Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, Maverick’s late best friend, who was played by Anthony Edwards in the first movie so we might get a fleeting glimpse of Goose in flashbacks.
It was reported that Michael Ironside would not be reprising his role, and actor Tom Skerritt who plays Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf has not confirmed his return to the role yet either.
Jennifer Connelly is going to be the female lead in the movie and plays a single mother running a bar near the Navy base; Glen Powell has also signed up to play the role of Hangman, a mystery character.
Ed Harris has joined the cast as an unnamed rear admiral who is the direct superior of Maverick, Jon Hamm also joins the movie as a vice admiral.
Manny Jacinto from The Good Place will be playing the role of Fritz, a new pilot.
The plot of Top Gun: Maverick
The official plot of the movie released by Paramount Pictures is:
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.
When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialised mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster”, the son of Maverick’s late best friend and radar intercept officer Nick Bradshaw, known as “Goose”.
Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.
Here are 5 facts about Top Gun 2 you probably didn’t know!
What to expect from Top Gun: Maverick?
The 30 years delay since the release of the first movie has been a bit too much but on the plus side, the combination of the leaps that technology has taken in the past years and the high-quality stunts that were in the first movie would make it a feat to watch.
Jennifer Connelly, the co-star of Cruise, described the stunts as extraordinary; they were so extreme that the movie crew had to request special permission from the Navy to film a few of them.
The producer of the movie Jerry Bruckheimer described that the cast of the film was put through some gruelling processes.
When asked about the dedication of the cast, Jerry said: “It was really a tough slog for these young actors because they also had to go through water survival training, where they are blindfolded and put in a water tank that’s turned upside down and they have to figure out how to get out.”
Also, the training provided to the cast members was a necessity as the producer noted that during the filming of the first movie, most of the cast excluding Cruise threw up or passed out in the F-14s and the footage was practically unusable.
With the updated F-18s, it was necessary that the cast members actually go through the training and it was headed by Tom Cruise in particular who according to Jerry, breezed through the training as if he were a 22-year-old.
The Trailer of Top Gun: Maverick
While the first trailer to Top Gun: Maverick was released back in July 2019, a new updated trailer was released back in December 2019 which you can check out down here:
Speculations About The Direction Of The movie
While the character of Kilmer, Iceman is in the cast, the absence of the character in the trailer might suggest that the role might only be a cameo, some other fans have also said that the funeral shown in the trailer might be for Iceman who dies saving Goose’s son played by Miles Teller.
Considering the clear cut approach of the first movie, there may not be much to speculate on in terms of what is going to happen this time around, and we might get just another straightforward action movie.
Stay tuned to The Hollywood Tribune for the latest updates on Top Gun: Maverick and more news from Hollywood and Beyond.
