<em>Top Gun 3</em>: Everything We Know So Far

Even at 62 years old, Tom Cruise feels the need for speed. While the megawatt movie star has seemingly closed the book on Mission: Impossible for good, he's about to get back in the cockpit of his other big cinematic franchise: Top Gun. A third installment in the series is on the way, and as of now the film looks like it'll take off sooner than you think.

In January 2024, word of Top Gun 3's development surfaced from Puck's Matthew Belloni, who reported that Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski is set to helm the three-quel, with actors Miles Teller and Glen Powell on target to return. Although Cruise had signed a splashy producing deal with Warner Bros. just days prior to the news, Cruise would still remain on board as a producer.

Fast forward to May 26, 2025. While on the press tour for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, director Christopher McQuarrie appeared as a guest on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast. McQuarrie, who cowrote and coproduced Top Gun: Maverick, was asked by Horowitz about Top Gun 3. "Is Top Gun 3 harder to crack in some ways than Top Gun: Maverick?" Horowitz asked the director. McQuarrie replied, "No, it's already in the bag."

When pressed by the host for clarification, McQuarrie continued: "I already know what it is. I thought it would be [harder]. And that's a good place to go from, is you walk into a room going, 'Come on, what are we going to do?' [Screenwriter] Ehren Kruger pitched something and I went, 'Hmm, actually...' We had one conversation about it and the framework is there. So, no, it's not hard to crack. The truth of the matter is, none of these are hard to crack."

There's little else we know about Top Gun 3, with nary a release date, a first-look teaser, or even word if Cruise will return onscreen as Maverick. But so long as Cruise is on board in any capacity, it's hard not to get excited by the thrill of possibilities a third Top Gun could bring to theaters. The original Top Gun from 1986 forever upped the ante on summertime blockbusters, while Top Gun: Maverick was as close to cinematic nirvana as any movie could dream to achieve.

We shouldn't ask, "What might a third Top Gun look like?" but rather, "What might a third Top Gun feel like?" Let's just hope Cruise keeps exercising any and every safety precaution along the way.