What is Top Gun: Maverick about?

Top Gun: Maverick takes place more than thirty years after the first Top Gun film. Maverick is training top gun graduates for a specialised mission and encounters Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw — played by Miles Teller — the son of Maverick's late friend and Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) Lt. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw. Maverick is forced to face the ghosts of his past as well as his own deepest fears while embarking on one of the most challenging missions while making the ultimate sacrifice.

It's no surprise that Tom Cruise reprises his role as the courageous pilot, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. Val Kilmer also returned for the sequel and played Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky once again. Cruise actually insisted that Kilmer return to Top Gun: Maverick and was adamant a sequel wasn't possible without him. In 2021, producer Jerry Bruckheimer told People that Cruise was a "driving force" in getting Kilmer for the film.

"We all wanted him, but Tom was really adamant that if he's going to make another Top Gun, Val had to be in it," he said.

Along with Cruise and Kilmer, Top Gun: Maverick also stars Jon Hamm, Lewis Pullman, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell, Ed Harris, Monica Barbaro, Charles Parnell and Miles Teller as Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of Maverick's late friend, Nick "Goose" Bradshaw who — spoiler — died in the original Top Gun movie.

The Top Gun: Maverick screenplay was written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie.The film was produced by Cruise himself, Bruckheimer, McQuarrie and David Ellis. The music is by German composers Harold Faltermeyer, who worked on the original Top Gun movie's score, and Hans Zimmer, the brains behind some of the most outstanding film scores of all time including Gladiator, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, Dunkirk and, most recently, Dune.