According to Variety, Paramount Pictures made the announcement Monday. The new film, a follow-up to Tony Scott’s 1986 action drama Top Gun that shot Cruise to fame, will see the Hollywood action star reprise his role as Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell.
Maverick will be set in a world of drone technology and will explore the end of the era of dogfighting, with Cruise portraying a flight instructor. Whiplash star Miles Teller will play the son of Goose, Maverick’s co-pilot (played by Anthony Edwards in the original), who’s his new protege.
Val Kilmer will also reprise his role as Tom Iceman Kazansky in the sequel.
Directed by Oblivion fame Joseph Kosinski, the sequel is penned by Peter Craig, Justin Marks, and Eric Warren Singer. The ensemble cast also features Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Jay Ellis, Bashir Salahuddin, Danny Ramirez, and Monica Barbaro.
Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the first film with the late Don Simpson, will back the movie with Cruise and Skydance CEO David Ellison.
It will be distributed exclusively in India by Viacom18.