Top Gun 3 is currently in development, but there isn’t a guarantee the film will get off the ground yet. In an interview with GQ while promoting his new film F1: The Movie, Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski discussed how the Top Gun 3 story is shaping up so far and outlined his one condition for the third installment to happen. In the early stages, Kosinski and his collaborators (including writer Ehren Kruger) have outlined a narrative where Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell faces an “existential crisis.” While that sounds like a compelling start, Kosinski said he won’t move forward with the project unless the story is strong enough.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“Yeah, there’s still more story to tell for [Maverick]. There’s one last ride,” Kosinski said. “So we’re working on it now. Ehren Kruger, who wrote F1, is writing the script. Like all things, it takes a while to work things out, and we’ll only do it if we feel like we’ve got a strong enough story.”
After the impressive success of 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick (which grossed $1.4 billion worldwide and was nominated for Best Picture), Paramount was quick to announce they were moving ahead with Top Gun 3. Word of Top Gun 3 first broke in January 2024, but since then, things have moved at a slower pace. Some of that likely had to do with Cruise’s availability, as the actor has been busy with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Cruise also has a new film from Alejandro González Iñárritu due out next year.
Since the initial reports of Top Gun 3, the most substantial updates have simply been that progress is being made on the story. Christopher McQuarrie has teased that the creative team has cracked the narrative, while Cruise has mentioned that Top Gun 3 is just one of many films he’s currently working on. Cruise hasn’t said anything concrete, just that he’s been “discussing” Top Gun 3 with his collaborators. As of this writing, Top Gun 3 doesn’t have a release date.
Obviously, there’s a financial component to Top Gun 3 that makes it an appealing prospect for all involved. Maverick was a box office hit, and Paramount is certainly interested in making another installment — especially since Mission: Impossible might be over now. Still, it’s encouraging to hear Kosinski say the story will dictate whether or not the film is made. Being interested in Top Gun 3 and actually ironing out a narrative that works and is worth telling are two very different things. Considering how much of a special cinematic event Maverick ended up being (many credit it for helping save movie theaters after the COVID-19 pandemic), it would be a shame if Top Gun 3 failed to live up to lofty expectations. With Kosinski behind the camera, it’s all but guaranteed the film would feature kinetic action sequences, but people also need to be invested in what’s happening.
Giving Maverick an existential crisis to navigate could be a compelling foundation for Top Gun 3. One of the strengths of Top Gun: Maverick was the drama that unfolded as Pete trained a new generation of fighter pilots and reconciled his complicated relationship with Rooster (the son of Maverick’s late best friend, Goose). Kosinski didn’t shed more light on what that existential crisis could be, but the general gist sounds like a good source of conflict that could push Maverick to his limits. But similar to John Wick 5, Kosinski and Co. should only move forward with Top Gun 3 if they’re fully confident in the story. It would arguably be better to leave the series as is than force something that doesn’t truly work.
