Cliff Notes –
Script for Top Gun 3 ‘already in the bag’ after blockbuster Tom Cruise sequel
- Christopher McQuarrie confirmed that the plot for Top Gun 3 has been developed, stating it was not difficult to create.
- The emotional core of the story remains a priority, focusing on character relationships rather than just action sequences.
- Tom Cruise is actively discussing various projects, including potential sequels and other films, indicating ongoing collaboration with McQuarrie.
Script for Top Gun 3 ‘already in the bag’ after blockbuster Tom Cruise sequel
Tom Cruise reprised his role in Top Gun: Maverick in 2022 and there’s another one coming soon.
The script for Top Gun three has already been ‘cracked’, according to scriptwriter and producer Christopher McQuarrie.
The original hit the big screen in 1986, following Tom Cruise as cocky naval aviator Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell’ as he trains at the US Navy’s Fighter Weapons School alongside pal ‘Goose’ (Anthony Edwards) and rival ‘Iceman’ (Val Kilmer).
In the 2022 follow-up, titled Top Gun: Maverick, the 62-year-old’s character was drawn back to the fighter pilot academy to train a new set of graduates for a special assignment.
It was a huge success and grossed more than $1.4billion at the global box office but, while there has been speculation of another sequel on the horizon, no one has given concrete answers about Maverick’s return.
Thankfully, Christopher – who worked with Tom on the Mission: Impossible franchise – has finally shared a much-needed update during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, revealing that the idea for the plot has already been figured out.
When host Josh Horowitz questioned if the third installment was ‘harder to crack’ than the second movie, he didn’t skip a beat, replying: ‘No. It’s already in the bag. I already know what it is, it wasn’t hard.
He played Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in the original movie (Picture: Paramount)
After more than three decades, he got back into the cockpit (Picture: Paramount)
‘I thought it would be, and that’s a good place to go from, as you walk into the room going, “Come on, what are we going to do?”
‘Ehren Kruger [Maverick co-writer] 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 … why these movies are made the way they are, it’s not the action, it’s not even the level of intensity or the scope and scale of the action, the engineering around the action – it’s none of these things. It’s the emotion.’
We finally have news on the sequel (Picture: Paramount)
The blockbuster was set more than three decades after the events of the first film, and focused on Maverick returning to the Top Gun training school to teach the latest batch of graduates, including Rooster (Miles Teller) and Hangman (Glen Powell).
Shedding light on how they finally settled on the plot for the wildly successful second movie, Christopher added: ‘Getting to that place, finding the right emotional balance, wherein you have a conflict between these two characters…
‘They kept saying, “We want more scenes with them together”, because they wanted to recreate Maverick and Goose, which, of course, we understood. Your desire is to rush right to what the audience wants. The minute their relationship is resolved, the movie is over.
‘Tom, and I inherently understood that balance, and everyone else around us was was pushing for what they wanted in the movie, in the micro, and Tom and I were focused entirely on the macro.’
Tom also spoke about the future of Top Gun
His comments come just days after Tom was asked about the future of Maverick and co, as well as the other projects he has on his plate.
Popping up on the Today show in Australia, he told the hosts: ‘Yeah, we’re thinking and talking about many different stories and what could we do and what’s possible.
‘It took me 35 years to figure out Top Gun: Maverick, so all of these things we’re working on, we’re discussing Days of Thunder and Top Gun: Maverick.
‘There’s numerous other films that we’re actively working on right now. I’m always shooting a film, prepping a film, posting a film.
‘I just finished a film with Alejandro Iñárritu too, who did The Revenant, that was an extraordinary experience and [Christopher McQuarrie] and I are always working on several different films.’