Why the sequel will take us on its miiighty wings.

Cruising altitude.

DIRECTOR Joseph Kosinski STARRING Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm

It’s been a long time coming (and then some, thanks to a couple of Covid-induced delays), but the long-awaited Top Gun sequel is almost upon us. Tom Cruise dons the shades and flight jacket again to reprise Maverick, his most iconic role outside of the Mission franchise. More than 30 years after the original, your need for more speed is set to be sated.

“We kicked around a bunch of ideas,” producer Jerry Bruckheimer tells TF of cracking the story for the long-gestating follow-up. “Tom became more interested, and he said that maybe the time is right. We first developed some concepts that didn’t work. Then, Joe [Kosinski] had an idea we liked. So, we took him to Paris where Tom was shooting one of the Missions. Tom loved the idea. That’s where it all started.”

Scant plot details have been revealed thus far, but we do know that the film sees Maverick training a new generation of pilots who have graduated the Top Gun program, and one of those youngsters is Lieutenant Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw (Miles Teller), son of Goose. What we also know to expect is spectacular aerial footage. The cast really take to the skies in F-18s, and are filmed with 6K cameras in the air. Cruise even devised a special training regime for the young actors, having experienced the nauseating effects of the G-force on the original movie.

“So this time around, Tom, the avid pilot who can fly anything, recalling that experience said, ‘We’ve got to train them to be able to handle the G-forces,’” explains Bruckheimer. “He was so generous and so giving to the actors, he fully committed to and personally designed the training programme that took three months for the actors to complete.” That attention to detail, plus the involvement of the Navy – “with us every single day” according to Bruckheimer – means that TG:M should really soar. ETA I 9 JULY 2021