Get ready to fly back into the “Danger Zone.”
Tom Cruise confirmed a sequel to his 1986 hit Top Gun is almost ready for takeoff and declared that filming would start soon.
Cruise, who played Maverick in the 80s classic, appeared on an Australian morning show Tuesday, where he told the hosts he’s “gonna start filming it probably in the next year.”
“It’s happening. It is definitely happening,” Cruise said on Sunrise.
“You’re the first people that I’ve said, this is happening. I’m here, you asked me, and so I’m telling you, this is going to happen.”
World Exclusive; @TomCruise tells @sunriseon7 Top Gun 2 starts filming next year!!!! ????????????
pic.twitter.com/JgdpxmK5CC
— Samantha Armytage (@sam_armytage) May 23, 2017
WORLDWIDE EXCLUSIVE: @TomCruise just confirmed that Top Gun 2 is happening! "I’m gonna start filming it probably in the next year". #sun7 pic.twitter.com/X17xvxz4Q4
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) May 23, 2017
A Top Gun sequel has been in development for years before gaining traction in 2012. However, work on the film came to a halt after the original film’s director, Tony Scott, died from an apparent suicide. Cruise and Scott had reportedly been working on a sequel since the original became a hit and were close to finalizing a script before Scott’s death.
Things stayed quiet until 2014, when producer Jerry Bruckheimer hired a screenwriter. Bruckheimer told the Hollywood Reporter that the story would involve Maverick and how old-fashioned fighter pilots deal with today’s high-tech drone warfare. He admitted that previous ideas for a sequel didn’t pan out although he, Cruise and others made several attempts to nail down the concept for Top Gun 2.
Bruckheimer piqued the public’s interest with a tweet in January 2016:
Just got back from a weekend in New Orleans to see my old friend @TomCruise and discuss a little Top Gun 2. pic.twitter.com/vA2xK7S7JS
— JERRY BRUCKHEIMER (@BRUCKHEIMERJB) January 26, 2016
If Top Gun 2 is indeed next on Cruise’s to-do list—he’s currently working on the sixth installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise—it could hit theaters in 2020 or 2021.
