With Joseph Kosinski, Tom Cruise, and Christopher McQuarrie back in the cockpit, the next Top Gun sequel is already taking shape. The franchise is ready to fly again, and the third installment is officially gaining altitude.
Director Kosinski, who led ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ to both critical and box office success, recently confirmed that ‘Top Gun 3’ is well into development. He revealed that the script is currently in the works and promises a storyline that’s both ambitious and emotionally resonant.
‘Top Gun 3’ Is Taking A Different Route
Joseph Kosinski, while speaking to ScreenRant during promotion for his upcoming ‘F1: The Movie’, opened up about the creative process behind the sequel. “Ehren Kruger is writing the script as we speak,” he shared. “It’s a big idea that I spent almost a year developing, working with some friends at the Navy and Lockheed.” That alone tells fans that ‘Top Gun 3’ won’t be just a retread of the previous films.
If anything, Kosinski seems determined to evolve the franchise further. He wants to raise the narrative stakes and create a new kind of cinematic challenge. “It was about coming up with an idea that, again, felt like a new challenge. Something that opens up the story in a way you just can’t let go,” Kosinski said. “And I think the idea is so ambitious. That’s what’s exciting to me.”
After the triumphant return of ‘Top Gun’ in 2022, Maverick grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide and received widespread praise (a 96% critic score and an astonishing 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes). So, the pressure is undoubtedly high. However, Kosinski doesn’t seem fazed. He appears energized by the opportunity to push the limits of what the franchise can be.
Producer Christopher McQuarrie Confirms The Plot Is “In The Bag” For ‘Top Gun 3’
As exciting as Joseph Kosinski’s vision is, he’s not the only one bringing serious heat to Top Gun 3. Christopher McQuarrie, a key figure behind the success of Maverick and Tom Cruise’s longtime collaborator, has revealed that the plot of the new film is already solidified. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he revealed that, contrary to what fans might expect, cracking the story for ‘Top Gun 3’ wasn’t difficult at all.
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“No, it’s already in the bag,” he said confidently. “It wasn’t hard… Ehren Kruger pitched something and I went, ‘Mhm actually,’ and we had one conversation about it and the framework is there.” McQuarrie emphasized that while the action and scale are part of the appeal, the heart of these movies lies elsewhere. “It’s not the action, it’s not even the intensity or the engineering around the action, it’s the emotion,” he stressed.
This insight aligns perfectly with what fans loved about ‘Top Gun: Maverick’; it wasn’t just a spectacle. It had real emotional weight, exploring Maverick’s past, his guilt over Goose, and his evolving mentorship of young pilots like Rooster. The development timeline, however, is still a major question. With the script in progress and Cruise’s schedule packed with other ambitious projects, it’s unlikely filming will begin before late 2026.
So, a realistic release window would likely be 2027 or 2028. Still, Cruise has made it clear he’s committed to the project. Speaking earlier this year, he expressed his passion for returning not just to Top Gun, but potentially also revisiting other iconic roles like Cole Trickle from ‘Days of Thunder’. “We’re thinking and talking about many different stories and what could we do and what’s possible,” Cruise said. “It took me 35 years to figure out Top Gun: Maverick, so all of these things we’re working on.”
