Top Gun Sequel Adds Jon Hamm, Ed Harris and Lewis Pullman

August 23, 2018

The sequel to the 1986 smash hit keeps adding talent to its roster. Deadline has reported that Top Gun: Maverick has cast Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Ed Harris (Westworld) and Lewis Pullman (Bad Times At The El Royale) to its already impressive cast.

They join a cast that includes original Top Gun cast members Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer plus Glen Powell (Hidden Figures), Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), Miles Teller (Whiplash), Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit), Charles Parnell (A Million Little Pieces), Jay Ellis (Insecure), Bashir Salahuddin (GLOW), Danny Ramirez (Assassination Nation), and Monica Barbaro (The Good Cop).

Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed Cruise in Oblivion, will helm the sequel, with Peter Craig, Justin Marks and Eric Warren Singer penning the script. Although the title Top Gun: Maverick floated around briefly, the film is currently without an official title.

A follow-up to Tony Scott’s 1986 hit has been in the works for quite some time, with Tom Cruise interested in reprising his role as United States Naval Aviator Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer previously outlined that the film will deal with the rise of unmanned drones and pilots becoming a thing of the past.

The original Top Gun was directed by Tony Scott and also starred Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards and Tom Skerritt. The film won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Take My Breath Away” performed by Berlin. In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Paramount Pictures has set the Top Gun sequel release date for July 12, 2019.