Top Gun 3 is in the works, Tom Cruise is to return as Pete Maverick in third instalment of billion-dollar franchise

Fans of Tom Cruise will be elated to know that the action star is returning to play Navy pilot Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell once again. As per media reports, Top Gun 3 has been greenlit. The third instalment of Top Gun is in development at Paramount with Top Gun: Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger writing a draft.

As Deadline reported, Top Gun 3 would reunite Cruise with Maverick‘s Miles Teller and Glen Powell as well as producers Jerry Bruckheimer and David Ellison. Joe Kosinski, will reportedly either direct or produce. As of now, Tom is busy with Mission: Impossible Dead Recogning Part 2, and Top Gun 3 is expected to go on floors after M:I 8. 

Top Gun's last instalment, Maverick (2022) is Tom's highest-grossing movie of his career, earning $1.49 billion. Top Gun: Maverick also won one Oscar last year for Best Sound and was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture.

As The Guadian reported, on Tuesday, Warner Bros announced they had signed a non-exclusive deal with Cruise to “jointly develop and produce original and franchise theatrical films”. However, Top Gun remains a property owned by rival studio Paramount, which will oversee Top Gun 3, likely to be Cruise’s next film. 

Not only the Top Gun series, but Paramount also controls the rights to Mission: Impossible series. The eighth instalment of which was delayed by the Covid pandemic. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two is slated for a May 2025 theatrical release.