Top Gun 3's Best Story Would Mean Abandoning The Franchise's Original Premise (2024)

Although Top Gun 3 has already established a perfect sequel story, pulling off this plot would mean moving on from Top Gun: Maverick’s most important character. The Top Gun movies are ostensibly about the titular flight school, the US Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, where the Navy’s best test pilots train to become even better. However, in practice, the series is the story of Tom Cruise’s Maverick. A co*cky but lovable antihero, Maverick is a reckless pilot with a need for speed whose ego and distaste for authority are matched only by his unparalleled flying ability.

Maverick is the star of the series and, while the original movie already made this clear, Top Gun: Maverick’s ending cemented the reality that the franchise is his story. Even though Miles Teller’s Rooster played a pivotal role in the sequel’s plot, like his father Goose in Top Gun, the character only existed to facilitate Maverick’s growth. Maverick is the center of the franchise’s world and there is no reason to think that the upcoming Top Gun 3’s story will change this winning formula. Unfortunately, this means that the sequel might miss out on its best potential plot.

Top Gun 3’s Best Story Would Move On From Tom Cruise’s Maverick

The Franchise Ended Maverick’s Story Perfectly

The Top Gun franchise has never focused on the titular school’s recruits equally, but Top Gun 3 could be about an entire set of students instead of just Tom Cruise’s Maverick. Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick both center Maverick’s story. but the franchise doesn’t necessarily need to continue with this approach going forward now that Maverick is ready for retirement. Top Gun: Maverick has introduced a slew of new supporting stars. These characters could become the faces of the franchise in Top Gun 3 if Cruise’s character took a backseat and this would reshape the Top Gun franchise’s future.

Top Gun: Maverick’s new characters Hangman, Phoenix, and B.O.B all got a chance to shine, but none of them got the story focus they deserved since Rooster and Maverick’s troubled dynamic dominated the movie’s action. This worked for Top Gun: Maverick as the sequel proved Maverick’s story didn’t finish when the original movie ended. Top Gun: Maverick provided Cruise’s character with a satisfying ending and a romantic storyline that, unlike the original movie’s corny Charlie subplot, didn’t feel like it was crammed in at the last moment. This means the series is now perfectly prepared to move on.

Top Gun: Maverick Already Established Top Gun 3’s Tom Cruise Replacements

Top Gun 3 Could Follow Top Gun: Maverick's Supporting Characters

Thanks to Rooster and Maverick’s shared storyline, most of Top Gun: Maverick’s test pilots didn’t get enough screen time. Some, like Manny Jacinto’s Fritz, barely even appeared onscreen. Top Gun 3’s returning characters could allow the sequel to finally center on these pilots, with Maverick playing a supporting role as their mentor. This would simultaneously end Maverick’s plot perfectly, by turning him into an Iceman-like mentor, and expand the world of the series. However, it would mean Top Gun 3 abandoning the franchise’s original focus, something that will be tough after the critical and commercial success of Top Gun: Maverick.

Top Gun: Maverick

PG-13

Action

Drama

War

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

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Director

Joseph Kosinski

Release Date

May 27, 2022

Writers

Ashley Miller , Justin Marks , Peter Craig , Zack Stentz

Cast

Tom Cruise , Miles Teller , Jennifer Connelly , Val Kilmer , Jay Ellis , Jon Hamm , Bashir Salahuddin , Charles Parnell , Lewis Pullman , Glen Powell , Monica Barbaro , Ed Harris

Runtime

130 Minutes

Franchise(s)

Top Gun