With a gap of 36 years between Top Gun: Maverick and its 1984 predecessor, audiences are eager to learn what happened to Tom Cruise’s titular character in that time period. The blockbuster has been a long time coming and was elongated even further after multiple Covid-19 delays pushed the release date from December 2020 to May 2022. Positive early reviews of the Top Gun sequel confirm that the resulting film is worth the wait, making the general public even more excited to finally return to Maverick’s story.
Since its original release date so long ago, trailers for Top Gun: Maverick have been available for a long time to provide a general idea of where the story is headed. The Top Gun school has a new class of graduate pilots (including Glen Powell as Hangman and former Mr. Fantastic, Miles Teller, as Rooster) that need training for a special mission and Maverick gets called in for the job. The new pilots are just as talented and arrogant as Maverick was when he was a student, which won’t make his job easy.
Although the trailers reveal the story of the new film, not much has been revealed about what Maverick has been up to in the time that has passed since Top Gun. There are a few minor hints in the trailer, such as the dialogue stating that Maverick was only asked back to the Top Gun school at the request of Iceman (Val Kilmer), who has become a 4-star admiral. This implies that Maverick may not have excelled or ingratiated himself with commanding officers in the years following graduation from the school, and has even avoided opportunities to advance in rank beyond Captain in the time prior to Top Gun: Maverick.
Another notable hint towards changes in Maverick’s life coming into Top Gun: Maverick is the absence of Kelly McGillis as Charlotte “Charlie” Blackwood. Although the couple seemed to be happy together at the end of the first film, it would seem Maverick and Charlie found trouble somewhere in the intervening 36 years and broke up. Jennifer Connolly has joined the cast as Maverick’s new love interest but it’s likely that the film will more fully explain Charlie’s absence and explore the effect their break-up had on Maverick.
The highly anticipated sequel could bring many more revelations about what Maverick has experienced since Top Gun but the indication given by the trailers is that Cruise’s character has struggled to move past his young gun days. As he trains a new generation of hot-shot pilots, Maverick will probably have to do some growing up. A lot can happen in 36 years, giving Top Gun: Maverick plenty of baggage to unpack for its main character even as new viewers are introduced to him for the first time.