Tom Cruise May Return To The Danger Zone As Top Gun 3 Enters Development

Does Tom Cruise still feel the need for speed? Paramount is certainly hoping that he does, now that the studio is formally moving forward with a third installment in the "Top Gun" franchise. This news comes hot on the heels of this week's announcement that the mega-star has struck a shiny new deal to produce and star in films for Warner Bros., albeit a non-exclusive one that will allow him to continue collaborating with Paramount. Then again, for all we know, WB might own Paramount before the year is done, so this might not even be a concern. These are certainly some times we're living in, aren't they?

Anyway, despite the timing of it all, The Hollywood Reporter insists that "Top Gun 3" has been "quietly" in the works since as far back as last fall during the then-ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. "Top Gun: Maverick" co-writer Ehren Kruger is currently plugging away at the script (as Puck recently revealed and THR has since confirmed), though it's a fair bet Cruise will recruit his other half, Christopher McQuarrie, to do some additional writing if he signs on. That might not happen for a while, though, seeing as Cruise and McQuarrie are currently focusing all of their energy on completing the as-yet-untitled "Mission: Impossible 8," which will supposedly serve as Cruise's swan song on the franchise.

Who even is Pete "Maverick" Mitchell without his high-flying family? Should Cruise return for "Top Gun 3," the plan is to also bring back his "Maverick" co-stars Miles Teller (who played Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the resentful son of Maverick's late pal "Goose" and the student to Cruise's mentor in "Maverick") and Glen Powell (who played fellow hotshot pilot Jake "Hangman" Seresin). THR claims that "Maverick" director Joseph Kosinski — who also worked with Cruise on his sci-fi action flick "Oblivion" — is similarly lined to call the shots on the threequel. Indeed, between his (arguably underrated) firefighter drama "Only the Brave," "Maverick," and his upcoming Formula One racing flick starring Brad Pitt, Kosinski has basically cemented himself as the go-to choice for this breed of adrenaline-fueled Dad Cinema in general.

Needless to say, Paramount is hoping lightning will strike again with "Top Gun 3" after "Maverick" brought home nearly $1.5 billion at the box office and secured multiple Oscar nods (including one for Best Picture) in 2022. Admittedly, it's a bit of an apples-to-oranges situation; after all, "Maverick" had the benefit of not only being a legacy sequel to an '80s blockbuster more than three decades in the making but also being hyped as a must-see big screen event that welcomed throngs of moviegoers back to theaters in the aftermath of the 2020 lockdowns. All the same, it would frankly be more confusing if Paramount wasn't trying to get their threequel up and going as quickly as possible, not least of all given its dire financial straits at the moment.

More on "Top Gun 3" as the story develops.