Top Gun 3 is in the works at Paramount with Tom Cruise returning to the cockpit

Tom Cruise is going back to the Danger Zone! After establishing a pact with Warner Bros. to partner with studio chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy to develop and produce original and franchise theatrical films jointly, Tom Cruise is getting back in the cockpit with Paramount for Top Gun 3.

According to Puck, a sequel to 2022’s theater-saving thrill ride Top Gun: Maverick is in the works, with Tom Cruise returning as Capt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell. Top Gun: Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger is writing a script that could reunite Cruise’s Maverick with Lt. Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw (Miles Teller) and Lt. Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin (Glen Powell). Maverick director Joe Kosinski is reportedly returning to direct.

Sources say plans for a Top Gun 3 have been in the works since the fall, which is no surprise given the overwhelming success of Top Gun: Maverick. Tom Cruise and his co-pilots took to the skies when the box office and theaters struggled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon its release, Top Gun: Maverick was credited as the film project that singlehandedly “saved” the box office. Maverick banked $1.493 billion worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 2022 and the highest-grossing of Cruise’s career.

Meanwhile, Cruise is shooting Mission: Impossible 8 for Paramount. The follow-up to last year’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One hopes for a better performance when it explodes on screens on May 23, 2025. While Dead Reckoning Part One is as exciting and action-packed as any other installment of Cruise’s Mission: Impossible franchise, the film became overshadowed by Barbenheimer hype, with Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar blockbuster Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer taking center stage at the box office.

Fans looking forward to Top Gun 3 should not expect production to take flight anytime soon. In addition to working on Mission: Impossible 8 and embarking on an over-the-top PR tour for that project, Cruise is heading to space for a new action movie with director Doug Liman. Tom Cruise will hopefully become “the first civilian to do a spacewalk” outside the International Space Station when the film goes into production.

Are you excited about Cruise making plans for Top Gun 3? Who should return from the Top Gun: Maverick cast for the sequel? Let us know in the comments.