I feel the need… the need for speed!

Glen Powell in uniform as Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

36 years passed between the release of Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick, but we wouldn’t have to wait nearly that long for Top Gun 3. Ever since Maverick became one of the most critically and commercially successful movies of 2022, there’s been quite a bit of talk regarding a potential threequel. Now the latest tease from Glen Powell, who played Jake “Hangman” Seresin in Maverick, makes it sound like he’ll actually re-team with Tom Cruise on Top Gun 3, which just gets me more excited for this project, as I’m sure it does a lot of other people.

To be clear, Paramount Pictures hasn’t made any kind of official announcement about Top Gun 3. That said, when Powell was speaking with Josh Horowitz alongside Twisters co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones, the reporter asked them which was more likely to happen, the Normal People continuation or another Top Gun movie. Powell responded:

I mean, I have a date.

When Horowitz followed up by asking if there was any news regarding that threequel he wanted to share with the audience, Powell, who’s also contributed to the 2024 movies landscape with Netflix’s Hit Man, stated, “Absolutely not.” Although he didn’t specify which kind of date, presumably he means production start date, i.e. when cameras will begin rolling. If that’s the case, then that means even though Paramount hasn’t publicly said anything about Top Gun 3, moves have already been made behind the scenes to get everything in order for principal photography, and Powell has been looped in on this.

While it’s possible Glen Powell may get in trouble for sharing this tidbit of information, at least anyone who enjoyed seeing him in Top Gun: Maverick, particularly the scenes Hangman shared with Tom Cruise’s Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, can get jazzed that the likelihood of seeing him back in the cockpit of a jet just skyrocketed. Powell’s comment follows seven months after it was reported that Ehren Kruger is penning a script for Top Gun 3, and while it wasn’t confirmed if Joseph Kosinski would return to direct, he’ll be involved as a producer at the very least.

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It’s worth noting that in June, producers Jerry Bruckheimer said that there were some “interesting ideas” he’d talked about with Tom Cruise, a script hadn’t been drafted yet, and it would “be a while” until the movie came out. However, Powell mentioning this mysterious date indicates development is further along than we thought, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being in early 2025. Bruckheimer revealed in another interview that when Cruise learned about the story that’s been envisioned for Top Gun 3, he said, “I really like that.”

Once any official word comes in on where things stand with Top Gun 3, we’ll pass it along. Until then, feel free to stream both Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick with a Paramount+ subscription, as well as catch Glen Powell in Twisters now.