Did Top Gun fans “feel the need” for a sequel? Definitely. The highly anticipated sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, is already in the works, with stars Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer back in action.
Cruise recently shared a teaser photo with the caption “#Day1” on Instagram, and sources confirmed that filming has begun. The Oscar-winning 1986 film about the lives inside the United States Navy’s elite fighter school is set to take off in theaters in 2019. To fasten up for the next movie, let’s take a look at what the original cast has been doing since the film hit theaters over 30 years ago.
Tom Cruise: Maverick
Tom Cruise, 56, has been flying through Hollywood since his film debut in Endless Love (1981). Just a few years later, Cruise went on to star in some of the biggest films of the 80s: Top Gun (1986), The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988)and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). The actor continued his extremely successful career with Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996) and Jerry Maguire (1996). Over his long career in Hollywood, Cruise has had three Oscar and seven Golden Globe nominations, three of which he won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by and Actor in a Motion Picture. Recently, Cruise has continued to appear in the Mission: Impossible series, as well as in The Mummy (2017) and American Made (2017). Currently, he is working on Mission: Impossible – Fallout (July 2018) as well as Luna Park (release TBD).
Val Kilmer: Iceman
Before “Iceman” (Kilmer) competed against “Maverick” (Cruise) in Top Gun in 1986, the actor first got his start in the 1984 spoof Top Secret! His breakthrough performance was his role as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors (1991). Since then, he has gone on to portray other stars like Elvis Presley in True Romance (1993) and Doc Holliday in Tombstone (1993). He also took on the role of Batman in Batman Forever (2005) and starred in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005). Recently the 58-year-old actor was on the TV series The Spoils of Babylon (2014), and was in The Snowman (2017) and The Super (2017). The Top Gun sequel will be Kilmer’s first major role since his recovery from throat cancer.
Kelly McGillis: Charlie
Kelly McGillis, 60, first appeared onscreen with a supporting role in the Oscar-nominated Reuben (1983). After picking up numerous TV roles, the actress then starred alongside Harrison Ford in Witness (1985), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. The actress then went on to appear in The Accused (1988) and was cast in several TV movies such as Bonds of Love (1993) and In the Best of Families: Marriage, Pride & Madness (1994). During the mid to late 1980s, McGillis decided to take herself off-screen and on-stage, playing various roles in William Shakespeare plays like The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night. This eventually led to her star role in the Broadway production of Hedda Gabler in 1994, which only ran for 33 performances. Following the birth of her children, McGillis worked more of an on-and-off schedule in Hollywood. Recently she has been in the TV movie An Uncommon Grace (2017) and Maternal Secrets (2017).
Top Gun 2 Has Begun Filming! See the Cast of the Original — Then and Now