Top Gun 3 must leave Tom Cruise’s Maverick behind to secure the future of the franchise. Nearly four decades since he debuted his most iconic role in Tony Scott’s Top GunCruise reprises his role as the daredevil pilot, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick. The sequel focuses on Maverick’s professional and personal arc and ends with the perfect happy ending for the character. Through Top Gun: Maverick‘s impressive success, it’s only a matter of time before Top Gun 3 has been officially ordered, but despite being the face of the franchise, the threequel is intended to deliberately prevent Cruise’s Maverick from appearing in the film.
While Top Gun: Maverick effectively revives that film series, Top Gun 3 will be a transition movie, and to get it fully off the ground it will need to move beyond Cruise’s Maverick and position his contemporaries as the franchise’s next big players. Aside from revisiting Mitchell’s story, Kosinski’s sequel also introduced a new generation of capable naval pilots led by Goose’s (Anthony Edwards) son, Rooster (Miles Teller), and Maverick’s real-life successor, Hangman (Glen Powell). Creating a story that focuses on them is imperative to ensure that the budding Top Gun franchise has the legs to go on for the foreseeable future and it’s hard to do that when Maverick will star in the proposed threequel. Instead of, Top Gun 3 can temporarily sideline Mitchell and focus on developing the Rooster and Hangman relationship, as well as individual arcs. Once they are well established characters, the Top Gun universe can bring back Maverick as a kind of mentor. This ensures that Cruise will continue to occupy an important place in the franchise as he ages.
Maverick Top Gun 3 skipping is good
Leaving aside the benefit of the franchise as a whole, Mitchell skips Top Gun 3 is also good for character. While it’s uncertain if Maverick retired in Top Gun: Maverick, the film gave him the perfect goodbye. After successfully completing the nearly impossible mission, he effectively restored his image in the Navy. He’s also rekindled his romance with Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly) and his relationship with Rooster couldn’t get any better. Bring it back in right away Top Gun 3 risks undoing his awesome ending in Top Gun: Maverick. Delaying his return to the franchise will allow Paramount to let his story breathe before inevitably having to deal with new chaos in the threequel.
Can Top Gun survive without Tom Cruise?
Cruise is synonymous with the Top Gun movies are the face of the franchise, not to mention the primary creative force behind it. Admittedly, it would be hard to get on without him. Just because Maverick is pushed aside in the inevitable Top Gun 3However, that doesn’t mean Cruise won’t be fully involved in the film. Instead, he can work behind the camera as a producer to ensure the fast-growing franchise is on the right track. He can also lead the stunt team like he did with Top Gun: Maverick.
Suffice it to say, there is no Top Gun franchise without Cruise, but to secure his future, it has to let him go, at least for now. At least, Top Gun 3 should limit Maverick’s involvement if Paramount doesn’t feel comfortable doing an episode without him. In any case, this also works in terms of Cruise’s schedule, as he is fully booked for years to come. If they’re waiting for him, it might be too late to take advantage Top Gun: Maverickpopularity with a follow-up.
