4 min readKochiApr 17, 2026 01:32 PM IST
In what can be described as the biggest film announcement of the year, production giant Paramount Pictures has confirmed that a third Top Gun movie is officially in the making. At CinemaCon 2026 in Las Vegas, Paramount’s co-head Josh Greenstein announced that scripting for Top Gun 3 is currently underway, marking the return of Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell yet again.
This will be a direct follow-up to director Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick (2022), which was a sequel to Tony Scott’s Top Gun (1986). However, Greenstein did not reveal whether Kosinski would return as the director this time.
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‘Tom Cruise, Jerry Bruckheimer reuniting’
“Top Gun 3 is officially in development with a script well underway, reuniting Tom Cruise and Jerry Bruckheimer (co-producer of both the Top Gun movies),” The Hollywood Reporter quoted Greenstein as saying at CinemaCon 2026. Although reports of a potential Part 3 in the Top Gun franchise had been circulating since 2024, this is the first time the makers have confirmed that the project is in motion.
Revealing that they were already working on Top Gun 3, barely two years after the release of Top Gun: Maverick, Bruckheimer told PEOPLE in 2024, “We pitched Tom (Cruise) a story he liked. But he’s a very in-demand actor, and he’s got a lot of movies lined up. So, we have to wait and see.”
‘It took me 35 years to figure out Top Gun Maverick’
Subsequently, Cruise himself confirmed that he and the makers were contemplating a third instalment in the franchise. However, it was too early to reveal much back then, and hence, he kept his comments generic. While promoting Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025), he told TODAY, “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.”
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He added, “There are 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 (Digger) with Alejandro Iñárritu, too, who did The Revenant, that was an extraordinary experience and Christopher McQuarrie (writer-director, best known for helming the most recent four Mission: Impossible films) and I are always working on several different films.”
About Top Gun Maverick
Also starring Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer in key roles, Top Gun: Maverick emerged as the second-highest-grossing film of 2022 — behind Avatar: The Way of Water (USD 2.33 billion, which was approximately Rs 21,662 crore) — earning USD 1.50 billion (approximately Rs 13,957 crore) worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
Despite a delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and hitting the screens while the world had yet to return to total normalcy, Top Gun: Maverick performed extremely well, underscoring the enduring love for the franchise. It also marked Val Kilmer’s final film appearance, as he passed away in April 2025, shortly before the movie’s release.
One of the most iconic films in Cruise’s repertoire, Tony Scott’s 1986 Top Gun ranks among the superstar’s finest action movies.
