Top Gun: Maverick: Tom Cruise wouldn’t make sequel without Val Kilmer

Thirty-five years after he first took to the skies with Top Gun, Tom Cruise will be reprising his role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick, but what would Maverick be without Iceman? Val Kilmer played Maverick’s nemesis turned alley, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, in the original film, and will be making an appearance in the Top Gun sequel as well.

As Val Kilmer’s battle with throat cancer has largely left him unable to speak, fans weren’t sure whether or not he would be returning for Top Gun: Maverick, but producer Jerry Bruckheimer told People that Tom Cruise didn’t even want to make the sequel if Kilmer wasn’t involved.

He said, ‘We have to have Val, we have to have him back. We have to have him in the film.’ And he was the driving force. We all wanted him, but Tom was really adamant that if he’s going to make another Top Gun, Val had to be in it.

Jerry Bruckheimer praised Kilmer as “such a fine actor [and] such a good individual. We had such a good time on the first one and wanted to bring some of the gang back together again.” Bruckheimer added that the reunion between Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer was “very emotional” for all involved. Kilmer’s son, Jack, also told People that his father was very excited to return. “They honor the legacy of Iceman, and he was so stoked by it,” Jack said.

Our own Chris Bumbray caught the first 12 minutes of Top Gun: Maverick at CinemaCon last week, and from the sounds of things, we’re in for a hell of a good time. The Top Gun sequel will hit theaters on November 19, 2021.