Top Gun 3 officially confirmed with Tom Cruise returning

Tom Cruise is heading to the skies once again with the confirmation of Top Gun 3.

While a sequel had been reportedly in the works since 2024, this week saw an official announcement from Paramount during the annual CinemaCon presentation. The 63-year-old will headline the third film in the action drama series with no other returning cast members confirmed.

Jerry Bruckheimer will be back as producer while director Joseph Kosinski is yet to sign on. “We pitched Tom a story he liked,” Bruckheimer said in 2024. “But he’s a very in-demand actor and he’s got a lot of movies lined up, so we have to wait and see.”

Last year, Cruise also spoke about the project. “We’re thinking and talking about many different stories and what could we do and what’s possible,” he said. “It took me 35 years to figure out Top Gun: Maverick. So, all of these things we’re working on, we’re discussing Days of Thunder and Top Gun: Maverick.”

The film follows the smash hit success of 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, which reached $1.5bn at the global box office and scored six Oscar nominations, including best picture. It followed up the Tony Scott-directed original released in 1986.

A third film has been a priority at Paramount ever since it completed its merger with Skydance in 2025, with David Ellison marking it out as important. Paramount will also acquire Warner Bros in a $111bn deal, with Top Gun 3 to exist under the new larger company.

Ellison is also reportedly hoping to make a Days of Thunder follow-up with the star.

During Paramount’s presentation this week, Ellison also doubled down on his hope to release 30 movies a year under the Paramount-Warner banner. Other films mentioned in the upcoming slate include Scary Movie 7, Taylor Sheridan’s Call of Duty adaptation, Damien Chazelle’s new film starring Cillian Murphy and a new horror film set in the Longlegs universe.

Cruise, who was last seen in the “final” Mission: Impossible film, will next topline Digger, the much-anticipated new film from Oscar winner Alejandro G Iñárritu. The dark comedy was also previewed this week at CinemaCon with attenders remarking on Cruise looking unrecognisable in the role of a billionaire who causes an environmental disaster.