‘Top Gun 3’ in the works; Maverick returns as Tom Cruise reprises iconic role

Los Angeles, "Top Gun 3" is officially in the making with Tom Cruise set to reprise his role of Pete "Maverick" Mitchell for the third time.Paramount announced the third film during its CinemaCon Presentation in Las Vegas.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is also set to return for the aviation drama, which first released in 1986 and became an instant hit.

It was directed by late Tony Scott.Paramount came up with a sequel to the film with director Joseph Kosinski taking over the reins for the 2022 blockbuster "Top Gun: Maverick", which became a blockbuster despite the COVID-19 pandemic and grossed USD 1.5 billion at the global box office, reported Variety.In the original film, Curise, 63 played hot shot pilot who gets plagued by doubt but eventually overcomes it to return to the flight school to teach a new batch of pilots.The sequel featured Cruise with stars like Miles Tellers, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, Danny Ramirez, Jay Ellis, Greg Tarzan Davis and Manny Jacinto all played new pilots.Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Charles Parnell, Ed Harris and Bashir Salahuddin also starred in the second part with a special appearance by Cruise's original "Top Gun" co-star Val Kilmer, who played Tom "Iceman" Kazansky.

Kilmer died in 2025 from throat cancer.Cruise, who was last seen in the latest "Mission Impossible" movie, was at the CinemaCon just two days ago to present "Digger", his first non-franchise movie in years.Directed by Oscar-winner Alejandro G. Inarritu, the movie features Cruise as a beer-bellied, aging, cat loving oil baron, who may end up starting a nuclear war and ecological disaster."Today, my dear friend and I had a blast sharing our sneak peek of DIGGER. We cannot wait to share this film with the world in October and to be part of what is going to be such a special year at the movies!" Cruise, one of the most loved action stars of his generation, tweeted recently.