Later this year, the long-awaited Top Gun 2 is released 34 years after the original. And now the Tom Cruise sequel’s director has revealed how Top Gun: Maverick will be similar to the 1986 original. Speaking with Empire, Joseph Kosinski spoke of “a rite-of-passage story”.
Speaking with Empire, the director said: “In so many ways he’s still the guy that we remember from the first Top Gun.
“He keeps that old Ninja under a tarp in the hangar and still wears those Ray-Ban aviators.
“He’s the best at what he does, and he’s given his whole life to aviation.
“But that has come as a personal cost, and Maverick has to confront some things from his past and reconcile with them.”
READ MORE: Top Gun 2 theories: Maverick to explore the death of his father
Kilmer’s Iceman is yet to appear in any promotional material for Top Gun: Maverick.
So perhaps, Maverick’s old rival will only feature in a cameo, flashback or death bed scene?
Top Gun 2’s synopsis reads: “Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell keeps pushing the envelope after years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators.
“He must soon confront the past while training a new squad of graduates for a dangerous mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice.”
Top Gun 2 co-stars Miles Teller as Rooster Bradshaw, a pilot trainee and son of the late Goose who perished in the first movie.
While Jennifer Connelly plays Maverick love interest Penny Benjamin, a single mother, bar owner and the daughter of a former admiral.
The sequel was originally set for a summer release but has been pushed back to Christmas due to the pandemic.
Top Gun: Maverick is released in UK cinemas on December 23, 2020.