Top Gun: Maverick Cast Grows with New Recruits

The highway to the danger zone is starting to look a little more crowded. As reported by Deadline, several new names were added to the cast of Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to the 1986 hit movie.

Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit) who’ll play the daughter of Jeffiner Connelly’s character. Also cast as part of the growing ensemble are Charles Parnell (A Million Little Pieces), Jay Ellis (Insecure), Bashir Salahuddin (GLOW), Danny Ramirez (Assassination Nation), and Monica Barbaro (The Good Cop). They’ll join the previously announced Glen Powell (Hidden Figures), Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) and Miles Teller (Fantastic Four), in addition to original Top Gun cast members Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer.

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.