Everything We Know About Top Gun: Maverick
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Your Guide to the Highly-Anticipated Top Gun Sequel
If you’re as big a fan of Top Gun as we are at Sky Combat Ace, you’re counting down the days until the release of Top Gun: Maverick. As hard as it is to believe, the original film hit theaters over 35 years ago! But we have yet to see if our patience for the movie’s follow-up will pay off.
Here’s everything you need to know about Top Gun: Maverick before it hits theaters on May 27, 2022.
What Is Top Gun: Maverick?
Top Gun: Maverick is the long-awaited sequel to the original movie, which has established itself as a fan favorite and classic aviation film. In the 1986 original, Tom Cruise plays Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a thrill-seeking Navy pilot chosen to attend the most elite school for Navy fighter pilots: Top Gun.
Along with his co-pilot “Goose,” Maverick isn’t afraid to push the limits of what a pilot and aircraft can do. However, following a tragic event, the character starts to question his skill and confidence. As in true Hollywood fashion, Maverick is able to overcome these obstacles and complete the most incredible aerobatic stunts and sequences.
That brings us to Top Gun: Maverick. Fans want to know what happened to Maverick after the movie ended. What is his life like now? Is he still taking to the skies? This sequel promises to answer that and more!
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Who Will Be In Top Gun: Maverick?
It would be an understatement to say the cast of this film is stacked. It’s no secret that Tom Cruise will be back to play the iconic Top Gun character, Maverick. However, there is a slew of new faces we’ll be seeing in the sequel—with award-winning actors behind them! To start, here’s a peek at who will be gracing the Maverick screen:
- Tom Cruise as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell
- Val Kilmer as Iceman
- Jennifer Connelly as Penny Benjamin
- Miles Teller as Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw
- Jon Hamm as Cyclone
- Ed Harris as Rear Admiral
- Monica Barbaro as Phoenix
- Glen Powell as Hangman
To the delight of Top Gun fans, Val Kilmer will be reprising his role as Iceman, Maverick’s competition-turned-friend. After going through treatment for throat cancer, which permanently altered Kilmer’s ability to speak, it was unsure if the actor would return. Although it has been confirmed that
Val Kilmer will be in the film¹, it’s expected to be more of a cameo than a major role.New Paragraph
What Is the Plot of the Top Gun Sequel?
From what we can piece together from the trailers and discussions, the film takes place about 30 years after the events of the original movie. Maverick works as a test pilot and has no interest in a promotion that could force him to leave the cockpit for good. However, he finds himself back at Top Gun—but in a very different role.
Maverick makes a career change to take up training elite recruits to become the best fighter pilots in the world. Plot twist: one of the new students, played by Miles Teller, is Goose’s son! The film revolves around Maverick navigating his new role while facing challenges, relationships, and more amazing aerial stunts.
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When Is the Top Gun: Maverick Release Date?
Due to the global pandemic and other production issues, the movie’s release date was pushed back² from July 2019 to December 2020 to July 2021, and then from mid-November 2021 to finally Memorial Day weekend of 2022.
The movie officially hits theaters on
May 27, 2022. However, there will be a
special screening³ at CinemaCon on April 28, 2022, and a world premiere at France's 2022 Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2022.
While we’re unsure when the film will be available on streaming platforms, many anticipate it will debut on Paramount Plus some time after the theatrical release date. Paramount Pictures is handling the distribution of Top Gun: Maverick.
What Kind of Training Did the Cast Do to Prepare?
According to Esquire⁴, the cast of Top Gun: Maverick had to pass a rigorous boot camp designed by none other than Tom Cruise himself! Tom Cruise is notorious for performing his own stunts in movies, and he expected the same level of dedication from the rest of the cast.
Trying to make the film look and feel as authentic as possible, the new cast members trained alongside Cruise in a Boeing F/A-18 Superhornet fighter jet. They were put through three months of flight school and intense G-forces in order to make the cut. In other words, the actors took it to the limit to shoot the most realistic film possible. If the rest of the movie is anything like the trailers, we have a lot to look forward to!
Experience Top Gun Stunts Yourself With Sky Combat Ace
Now it’s your turn to get in the cockpit with our adrenaline-pumping Top Gun Experience at Sky Combat Ace! We recreate many of the aerobatic moves and stunts from the original film, including:
- Aerial dogfighting
- Air to air combat maneuvers
- Low-level bombing runs
- Rolls, loops, and tailslides
If you’re ready to play fighter pilot for the day, we’ve got you covered. Our skilled pilots will take you for a ride you will never forget in one of our professional stunt planes. To learn more, contact the Sky Combat Ace team or
book your flight today!
Sources:
¹Parker, R. (29 March 2022). ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Trailer Ties Val Kilmer’s “Iceman” Into New Story. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
²Lavender, N. (22 March 2022). Top Gun: Maverick - What We Know So Far. Looper. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
³Lutz, J. (9 April 2022). 'Top Gun: Maverick' to Screen at CinemaCon Later This Month. Collider. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
⁴Kirkland, J. (29 March 2022). The Top Gun: Maverick Cast Had to Pass Tom Cruise Bootcamp Before Filming. Esquire. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
Images via Skydance Media
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