'Top Gun: Maverick' Trailer: Tom Cruise Returns To The Danger Zone

Sometimes a movie is so perfect the world collectively agrees to leave it the hell alone, to not remake it, to not crank out sequels just to squeeze a few more dollars out of a recognizable IP. For years, Top Gun was one of those movies. And sure, a sequel 34 years after the fact is wholly unnecessary, but also, holy shit, Top Gun: Maverick looks fucking awesome. Sorry for the salty language, but it does. Don’t believe me? Check out the latest trailer below.

Oh god, when that music kicks in? I mean, I’m only a man, I can only take so much. This Top Gun: Maverick trailer straight up gave me chills. (Cards on the table, Top Gun had a huge formative impact on me in many ways—part of which I wrote about here, Hell, the kid who grew up next door to me actually became a pilot in large part because of a passion for flying spurred on by this movie.)

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There’s definitely a fair bit of nostalgia baiting going on, as one might expect. But it also looks like Top Gun: Maverick creates its own way in the world, while it also nods to the original. I mean, that shirtless football scenes screams homage to the 1986 shirtless beach volleyball scene, so… And I’m sure I’m not going to have any feels at all when they talk about Goose. Is it dusty in here?

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Here’s a synopsis:

After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.” Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Oblivion), this promises to look fantastic. And while the sheer number of credited writers gives me pause, one of them is Christopher McQuarrie, so that’s not the worst news. 

In addition to Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick also stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, John Hamm, Ed Harris, Manny Jacinto, a bunch of other people, and, perhaps most importantly, Val Kilmer makes an appearance as Iceman.

Cruise and company return to the Danger Zone June 26, 2020.