Top Gun 2 director reveals Tom Cruise was very reluctant to film a sequel

With $1.5 billion in global box office, Top Gun: Maverick was one of last year’s most successful movies. However, according to director Joseph Kosinski, Tom Cruise “really didn’t want” to make another Top Gun at first. But after a script pitch, he was lured in and eventually joined. It was a big win for Cruise, too: He reportedly made $100 million from the film.

Kosinski told DEADLINE that the death of Tony Scott, the director of the original Top Gun in 1986, was one of the reasons Cruise didn’t want to return.

“Tom really didn’t want to do another Top Gun movie [before], and it became even more impossible after [director Tony Scott’s suicide],” Kosinski said. “I’m sure that was another reason why he would never consider returning in the first place.”

"But I explained to him that the story would be a journey of reconciliation between him and Rooster, who initially objects to his mission putting him in harm's way, and then ends up with the two of them walking through enemy territory together and having to work out their differences in order to get home safely."

According to Kosinski, Cruise initially thought that the chances of a new sequel being successful 36 years after the original film was released were slim.

"He kept saying, 'Joseph, we're hitting a bullet with a bullet.' That was his vision for the movie. So when we started shooting the movie, that was in my head every day. I think everyone involved in this movie felt that the bar was very high because we were all fans of the original movie."

Previously, "Top Gun 2: Maverick" had been on the road to becoming the world's number one box office movie in 2022, until "Avatar 2: The Way of Water" came out and replaced it.

As for Tom Cruise, he currently has multiple projects in the works, including the first and second parts of the new Mission: Impossible - Return of the Jedi, as well as a film in partnership with NASA and SpaceX that will actually be shot in space.