Maverick might be flying back to the big screen much sooner than expected.
Just days after Tom Cruise teased the future of the “Top Gun” franchise, Christopher McQuarrie appeared on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast to reveal that the next film is “already in the bag.”
“I already know what it is. It wasn’t hard,” McQuarrie, who co-wrote and produced “Top Gun: Maverick,” said on Monday. “I thought it would be, and that’s a good place to walk from.”
“You walk into the room going, ‘Come on, what are we going to do?’ And Ehren Kruger pitched something, and we had one conversation about it,” he added of his fellow “Top Gun: Maverick” writer. “The framework is there, so it’s not hard to crack.”
Earlier this month, Cruise himself teased “Top Gun 3” during an appearance on Australia’s “Today” show.
“Yeah, we’re thinking and talking about many different stories and what could we do and what’s possible,” the 62-year-old actor said at the time.
“It took me 35 years to figure out ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’” he continued, “so all of these things we’re working on, we’re discussing ‘Days of Thunder’ and ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’”
But the “Edge of Tomorrow” star added that he was also working on “numerous other films” at the moment – including one with Alejandro Iñárritu, plus other projects with McQuarrie.
“There are numerous other films that we’re actively working on right now,” Cruise said. “I’m always shooting a film, prepping a film, posting a film.”
“I just finished a film with Alejandro Iñárritu too, who did ‘The Revenant,’ that was an extraordinary experience,” he continued, “and McQuarrie and I are always working on several different films.”
“Top Gun: Maverick,” which was released in 2022, marked Cruise’s first return to the role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell since the original “Top Gun” in 1986.
While the sequel saw Cruise’s character train a new generation of TOPGUN pilots – like Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), Jake “Hangman” Seresin (Glen Powell) and Robert “Bob” Floyd (Lewis Pullman) – it also saw the return of the late Val Kilmer’s Tom “Iceman” Kazansky.
The news regarding “Top Gun 3” this week came shortly after Cruise announced his plans to continue making movies for at least another 40 more years.
“I’m going to make them into my 100s,” he told The Hollywood Reporter during the premiere of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” earlier this month.
“I will never stop,” Cruise added. “I will never stop doing action, I will never stop doing drama, comedy films – I’m excited.”
His latest comments also come amid romance rumors linking him with Ana de Armas.
According to insiders, Cruise is “super smitten” and has caught “feelings” for the 37-year-old actress.
“They’ve gone out on some dates, and it’s very low-key,” an insider told Us Weekly earlier this month. “It’s in the early stages, and he’s been courting her.”
However, other insiders insisted that the pair are “just friends.”
De Armas herself confirmed that she and Cruise, as well as McQuarrie, are currently “working on a lot of things” together.
“We’re definitely working on a lot of things,” she told “Good Morning America” on May 15. “Not just one but a few projects with Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie and, of course, Tom.”
“And I’m so excited,” the “Knives Out” actress added at the time.
