Going into San Diego Comic-Con this year, Top Gun: Maverick wasn’t expected to be a topic of conversation. However, to everyone’s surprise, Tom Cruise stopped by the Paramount panel at SDCC earlier today to debut the first Maverick trailer, and you can watch him appear before the Hall H crowd below.
Introduced by Conan O’Brien, who’s been a mainstay at San Diego Comic-Con over the last several years, Tom Cruise walked out on stage to thunderous applause. You can hear one guy in the crowd speculate if Cruise is there to talk about the next Mission: Impossible movies, but no, he was there to plug Top Gun: Maverick, the next movie the actor will be releasing in theaters. The sequel to the original 1986 movie is out in June of next year.
Before showing the trailer, Tom Cruise assured everyone that the flying in Top Gun: Maverick is real, including Cruise himself being in the cockpit, although he didn’t get to pilot F/A-18 Hornet because that’s off-limits to civilians. Cruise also promised that Maverick, just like its predecessor, will be filled with competition, family, sacrifice, heroism and aviation… that last one can probably go without saying. We've also heard previously from Jon Hamm noting the movie will feature all kinds of new technology.
And with that, the Top Gun: Maverick trailer dropped. In case you haven’t watched the preview already, be sure to give it a watch below.
Taking place over three decades after the events of Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick sees Peter “Maverick” Mitchell still flying for the military, but only holding the rank of captain, even though a man with his career usually would be a two-star admiral by now. Mitchell will return to the Top Gun flight school to serve as its newest instructor, and one of his students is Miles Teller’s Bradley Bradshaw, son of Mitchell’s deceased wingman, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw.
Tom Cruise isn’t the only familiar face who’s back for Top Gun: Maverick. Val Kilmer is reprising Thomas “Iceman” Kazansky, who is a commander now. Iceman and Maverick were rivals in Top Gun, but it’ll be interesting to see what their dynamic is like this time around.
As for new faces, Top Gun: Maverick’s cast includes Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Glenn Powell (who originally auditioned to play Goose’s son), Manny Jacinto, Monica Barbaro, Charles Parnell and Jay Ellis, among many others. Tron: Legacy’s Joseph Kosinski directed, and Peter Craig, Justin Marks, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie all worked on the script.
Top Gun: Maverick flies into theaters on June 26, 2020, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more coverage. Don’t forget to also look through our 2019 release schedule to find out what movies are arriving this year.
