Cast one eye over Tom Cruise’s decorated filmography and you’ll find that, beyond the Mission: Impossible series and the upcoming Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, the actor seldom dips his toe into sequel territory. That’s quite the feat, but it seems after M:I and now Reacher, Cruise could bend his cardinal rule once again for another follow-up: Top Gun 2.
Though it threatened to unravel soon after the tragic passing of director Tony Scott four years ago, Top Gun 2 is alive and kicking, with Cruise and Co. seemingly out to engineer a sequel that will tackle some hefty themes including the rise of drone warfare and the subsequent death of the fighter pilot era. That’s certainly a radical departure from the cheesy romp that first took flight 30 years ago, and while he stopped short of offering any tangible updates, Tom Cruise told Screen Rant recently that the long-rumored sequel is still motoring away.
Chatting to the outlet ahead of Never Go Back, the action veteran revealed that, “well, we’re working on it. We’re trying to figure it out.” When asked if there would be any famous faces returning from the previous film, like a flashback to Goose, Cruise sadly admits, “Goose won’t be coming back unfortunately… sorry.”
Goose may remain in the ’80s, but diehard fans can at least take solace in the fact that Val Kilmer jumped at the chance to reprise the role of Tom “Iceman” Kazansky without a second hesitation. Questions remain as to how Paramount can repackage Top Gun 2 for a 21st century audience – that aforementioned drone plot seems like a good place to start – but Tom Cruise is still game to take to the skies as devil-may-care navy pilot Pete Mitchell once again.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, meanwhile, hits theaters on Friday, October 21.
