Top Gun 3 Will Give Tom Cruise's Maverick A Very Different Kind Of Crisis

"Top Gun: Maverick" was an exhilarating surprise. It's not only one of the best movies of 2022, but it's also one of the best examples of a legacy sequel done right — which is fitting considering "Maverick" director Joseph Kosinski had previously delivered the best legacy sequel of the 2010s, "TRON: Legacy." The film is spectacle in its purest form, with exquisite visuals, phenomenal action and stunts, a killer soundtrack, and a little bit of character development as a treat.

Commercially, "Maverick" was an overwhelming success to boot, so of course a third "Top Gun" movie is being commissioned. But where could it even go? In terms of the story, "Maverick" already felt like a bookend to the larger tale of Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise). Then there's the question of the visuals. Considering that "Maverick" placed cameras inside actual jet planes, is there any way "Top Gun 3" could top that? Can it take things even higher, perhaps to a place with golden streets?

It might be a while before the conclusion to the unlikely "Top Gun" trilogy comes out, but we're starting to get some juicy details about what to expect from it. Earlier this year, "Maverick" writer Christopher McQuarrie revealed he knows what the story for "Top Gun 3" will be, though he refused to elaborate. Now, while promoting his new film "F1" in an interview with GQ, Kosinski has talked a little more about the film and how it can take things even further than placing actors in honest-to-goodness jets:

"We're thinking much bigger than ... It's a really existential crisis that Maverick has in this, and it's much bigger than himself. It's an existential question that Maverick has to deal with, that would make 'Maverick' feel small, I think, as a movie, compared to what we're talking about."

Kosinski also described the story for the "Top Gun: Maverick" sequel as being "one last ride," saying there is still "more story to tell" when it comes to the Pete Mitchell character.

While this doesn't shed a whole lot of light on "Top Gun 3," it says plenty about the future of the larger franchise. As we speculated when rumors of "Top Gun 3" started circulating, the biggest question about a third "Top Gun" is whether it will continue focusing on the titular training academy or actually move forward. "Maverick" managed to do both, spending time in training (but with graduates of the academy) before pulling off a really cool "Star Wars"-inspired mission, but it seems unlikely we'll go back to training yet again. That means either Mitchell will be forced to return to service after retiring or "Top Gun 3" will center on a new and even bigger mission.

In the meantime, Kosinski is already thinking of ways to extend his time working with fast cars, having already conquered the skies. When asked by GQ about "F1" star Brad Pitt saying he'd like to work with Cruise again, Kosinski had an idea for what to put the two actors in. Sadly, given Pitt specifically said he'd only work with Cruise if they were firmly on the ground and not hanging off planes, it seems unlikely he'd show up in a third "Top Gun" movie. Still, there's a way to make it work.

"Right now, it'd be Cole Trickle, who was [Cruise's] 'Days of Thunder' character, we find out that he and Sonny Hayes [Pitt's character in 'F1'] have a past," Kosinski said. "They were rivals at some point, maybe crossed paths ... I heard about this epic go-kart battle on 'Interview with a Vampire' that Brad and Tom had, and who wouldn't pay to see those two go head-to-head on the track?"

"F1" opens in theaters on June 27, 2025.