Tom Cruise in “Top Gun” (1986).Paramount Pictures
In June 2017, Paramount Pictures announced it would release a sequel to the 1986 hit film “Top Gun.”
The sequel, now titled “Top Gun: Maverick,” had been in development for nearly a decade, and it started shooting in May of this year.
Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer are reprising their roles from the original film, and they’re joined by a supporting cast that includes Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, and the recently announced additions of Jon Hamm and Ed Harris.
The film is set for release on July 12, 2019.
Here’s everything we know about “Top Gun: Maverick” so far:
Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer are reprising their roles from the original.
Kilmer and Cruise on the set of 1986’s “Top Gun.”Getty Images
Cruise returns in the sequel as his “Top Gun” character Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who is now teaching young pilots how to fly at the Top Gun naval aviation school.
Deadline reported that not much is known about the sequel’s plot other than that Cruise’s character takes Miles Teller’s character, the son of Maverick’s former partner Goose, under his wing.
Kilmer will also return as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky.
The sequel has been in the works for nearly a decade.
A “Top Gun” sequel has been in development since 2010, when Paramount Pictures made offers to Jerry Bruckheimer and Tony Scott, the original film’s producer and director.
The film was shelved temporarily when Scott committed suicide in 2012 after being diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer.
In 2013, Bruckheimer said that he was still planning to produce a sequel, and Cruise and Kilmer subsequently expressed interest in reprising their roles.
The sequel started filming in May of this year, and it’s set for release on July 12, 2019.
It’s directed by previous Cruise collaborator Joseph Kosinski.
Cruise in Kosinski’s “Oblivion” (2013).Universal
Kosinski directed Cruise in the post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller “Oblivion” in 2013.
Kosinski also has experience directing a sequel to a fan-favorite film; his directorial debut was the 2010 “Tron” sequel “Tron: Legacy.”
The script for the film was written by Eric Warren Singer (“American Hustle”), Peter Craig (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay”), and Justin Marks (“The Jungle Book”).
The supporting cast includes Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, and Jennifer Connelly.
Hamm and Harris.Getty Images
Deadline reported on Thursday that Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, and Lewis Pullman would join a supporting cast that includes Glen Powell, Jennifer Connelly, and Miles Teller.
Rounding out the cast are Charles Parnell, Jay Ellis, Bashir Salahuddin, Danny Ramirez, and Monica Barbaro.
Cruise shared the first on-set shot of the film in May.
Variety reported that the sequel started filming in late May, after Cruise shared a photo on Instagram with the caption “Day 1.”
In the post, Cruise’s Maverick stares down a fighter jet at the end of a tarmac. It features the text “Feel the need,” in reference to the original film’s frequently quoted line, “I feel the need – the need for speed.”
Variety said the film would “explore a world of drone technology, fifth-generation fighters and the end of the era of dog-fighting.”
The film has been shooting on a US Navy aircraft carrier.
The USS Abraham Lincoln.Getty Images
CNN reported on Wednesday that the crew for “Top Gun: Maverick” was shooting aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off the coast of Virginia.
“The Navy is supporting one shoot this week aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, per a Production Assistance Agreement signed by Paramount and the Department of Defense,” Navy spokesperson Lt. Cdr. Daniel Day told CNN.
“Our priority will always be warfighting, and training combat-ready Naval aviation forces,” Day continued. “That being said, we believe we can support the film and simultaneously achieve training objectives.”
