Danger Zone
David Ellison announced at CinemaCon a couple of weeks ago that Top Gun 3 is officially a go at Paramount Skydance. The script is being written, Tom Cruise is attached to star in the film and Jerry Bruckheimer will produce. However, now it’s being revealed that the visionary director of Top Gun: Maverick, Joseph Kosinski, will not be returning to helm the movie. According to The InSneider, Kosinski isn’t expected to direct further entries due to potentially filming two movies (Miami Vice ’85 and his UFO project) back-to-back in 2026 and 2027, which now leaves the sequel as an “open directing assignment.”
Who will direct Top Gun 3?
The absence of Kosinski is going to leave a huge void. His visual style made both Top Gun: Maverick and F1 immersive experiences. So, is Paramount writing checks their bodies can’t cash? With Tom Cruise still on as the star and producer and taking so many years to get the sequel right, it’s hard to believe that Cruise would settle for less-qualified filmmakers, having the quality dip.
Cruise and Bruckheimer are currently going over some choices for directors who can stick close to their vision and with whom they can have a healthy collaborative relationship. According to The Insneider, some names that are currently being thrown around are Jon M. Chu (Wicked), Joachim Rønning (Tron: Ares) and the duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys: Ride or Die).
Kosinski’s concept for the third
Although Kosinski won’t be directing, he had already teased a concept for the continuing story. It’s not yet known if they will go with it or come up with a newer one. He originally hinted that the next chapter will see Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell grappling with an existential crisis.
“I think we’ve found a way to do it, not only in the scale of what we’re proposing, but the idea itself of the story we’re telling. We’re thinking much bigger than… It’s a really existential crisis that Maverick has in this, and it’s much bigger than himself,” Kosinski explained. “It actually… I’m trying to describe it without giving anything away. [Laughs.] 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.“
GQ’s Jack King mentioned that Top Gun: Maverick felt like a “baton-passing film,” but Kosinski had said that there’s “still more story to tell” for Maverick. “There’s one last ride,” he said. He previously explained, “So we’re working on it now. Ehren Kruger, who wrote F1, is writing the script. Like all things, it takes a while to work things out, and we’ll only do it if we feel like we’ve got a strong enough story.“
However, is a third film even a good idea after Maverick ended on a high note? Can they stick the landing?
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