Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski addresses whether he would return for Top Gun 3. Tom Cruise returned as hotshot pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in 2022’s hit sequel, which was released in theaters 36 years after Tony Scott’s 1986 original. Following the sequel’s major success at the box office, excitement has been high for a potential third installment, but it wasn’t until earlier this month that a report confirmed another film is in development at Paramount.

With Top Gun 3 reportedly in development, Kosinski addresses whether he would be interested in returning as director during a recent conversation with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

Kosinski’s conversation with Horowitz may have been recorded before the latest batch of Top Gun 3 news, but the director is cautious to outright confirm his return and the status of the movie more generally. Check out Kosinski’s full comment below when asked if he thinks about returning for another sequel:

“I can’t help myself. As you’re about to go to sleep at night, the brain dreams and you can’t help but think of if there was another one, what would that story be? What’s the emotional reason to bring Maverick back? What’s the challenge? Having done this, how could you possibly push it further enough that there’s a challenge there to go beyond.

“So of course you think about these things, but for me, I’ve got this F1 movie in front of me right now. I’m developing some other things. Tom is off shooting another [Mission: Impossible] and possibly going to space. So we’ve all got very ambitious things ahead of ourselves.

“Maybe when Tom and I have dinner at some point it will come up. It’s not something I would just throw out. I’m busy, he’s busy. Jerry’s producing the Formula 1 movie with me. Listen, it took 36 years for Maverick, it could take 36 for the next one. I don’t know. It’s all about a story that I love, a challenge that’s exciting. For me, that’s why I do it and I know that’s why Tom does it.”

Top Gun 3 Faces Big Challenges

Why The Top Gun: Maverick Sequel Could Be A Long Way Off

It should be noted, first off, that Top Gun 3 being in development doesn’t necessarily mean that the movie will happen. Projects can spend years in development and sometimes don’t move forward for any number of reasons. What is clear, however, is that Top Gun: Maverick’s box office makes a sequel a no-brainer, and it’s certainly not surprising that Paramount is keen to move forward with another film.

Purely from a scheduling point of view, however, it will be challenging to get the Top Gun: Maverick cast back together with Cruise. Reports state that the studio is eyeing Miles Teller and Glen Powell to return, but it’s Cruise himself who will likely be the hardest to nail down. As Kosinski explains, Cruise is currently busy filming Mission: Impossible 8 and could next end up going to space to film a movie with director Doug Liman aboard the I.S.S., and the latter project alone certainly sounds like it could take up a fair chunk of time.

Additionally, Top Gun: Maverick itself was a fairly monumental undertaking. Bringing the aerial action to life in the movie involved filming close to 800 hours of footage, and as Kosinski says, any sequel will need to up the ante and push the envelope in new ways. That’s not to mention the challenges the movie will face from a story perspective after the Top Gun: Maverick ending gave Cruise’s character a strong sendoff. Essentially, then, Top Gun 3 may well be on the way, but it’s likely not coming anytime soon.

Source: Josh Horowitz