If producers David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer get their way, “Top Gun 2” — the sequel to the ever-quotable 80s classic — will explore the end of classic dogfighting in the age of drones.
“Top Gun 2” has reportedly been in the works for more than five years, but Ellison says he is hopeful production could begin soon. Ellison says the new screenwriter now working on the script has a phenomenal take to really update this new world that Navy fighter pilots live in today.
The script, he says, will center on what top Navy leaders have called the coming end of manned fighter and attack aircraft. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said recently, “The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter should be, and almost certainly will be, the last manned strike fighter aircraft the Department of the Navy will ever buy or fly.”
But the movie producers aren’t counting out fighter jocks just yet. Tom Cruise will be back in the cockpit, reprising the role of naval aviator Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, according to an article in Navy Times.
“There is an amazing role for Maverick in the movie, and there is no ‘Top Gun’ without Maverick, and it is going to be Maverick playing Maverick,” says Ellison.
Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of the original “Top Gun,” told the Huffington Post that the sequel will address the issue of whether pilots are obsolete because of drones. He says Cruise is going to show the audience that pilots are here to stay.
Ellison, who began flying stunt aircraft at age 13 with his dad, says the project is very personal for him. He was also an avid skydiver and sky surfer before injury grounded that hobby.
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