It’s been a long road to the Top Gun sequel, but later this year, Top Gun: Maverick will finally hit the silver screen. And while Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell will be accompanied by Val Kilmer’s Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, the rest of the movie’s cast is comprised of brand-new faces. Chief among them is Miles Teller’s Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, who, like his late father, rocks a killer mustache, as you can see below.
After meeting Rooster as a child in the original Top Gun, now we reunite with him as an adult, where he’s followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a pilot and. In Top Gun: Maverick, Rooster will find himself being trained by Maverick himself, who flew with Goose back in the day. Considering the circumstances in which his father died, one wouldn’t blame Rooster for having some hard feelings towards his instructor.
But Rooster is hardly the only new pilot who will get notable screen time in Top Gun: Maverick. For instance, check out “Hangman” below, played by Glen Powell, who lost out on playing Rooster, but still scored a spot in the sequel thanks to Tom Cruise, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and executives at Paramount Pictures and Skydance Media being impressed with him. They even “beefed up” the role for Powell!
Rooster and Hangman’s fellow Top Gun recruits in the new movie include Unreal’s Monica Barbaro as “Phoenix,” Bad Times at the El Royale’s Lewis Pullman as “Bob,” The Game’s Jay Ellis as Payback” and Assassination Nation’s Danny Ramirez as “Fanboy.” You can check these characters out in the image gallery at the bottom of the article.
Other folks we’ll meet in Top Gun: Maverick include Jennifer Connelly as Maverick’s yet-to-be-named love interest who runs the bar near the flight academy, Jon Hamm as a vice admiral, Ed Harris as Maverick’s superior officer and Charles Parnell as Marcus “Sundown” Williams, a rear admiral who has history with Maverick.
Behind the scenes, Top Gun: Maverick is being directed by Tron: Legacy’s Joseph Kosinski, while Ehren Kurger, Eric Warren and frequent Tom Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie worked on the script. Hans Zimmer and Harold Faltermeyer are working on the score together, and we’ll also be treated to a reprise of the original Top Gun’s most famous song, Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone.”
Beginning development in 2010, Top Gun: Maverick finally began preliminary production in summer 2018, and principal photography ended around April 2019. The sequel was originally scheduled to be released last July, but it was pushed back a year and will now open opposite the musical In the Heights.
Top Gun: Maverick flies into theaters on June 26, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more coverage. For now, keep track of what else is coming out this year with our 2020 release schedule.
