“Top Gun” is gearing up to make its comeback.
During an interview on the July 22 episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Glen Powell suggested he knows when filming begins for the follow-up to “Top Gun: Maverick.”
“I mean, I have a date,” Powell, 35, said, when asked about “Top Gun 3” by host Josh Horowitz.
When pressed for more details, the actor humorously responded, “Absolutely not,” and suggested they move on to the next question.
Since “Top Gun: Maverick” released in 2022, Powell and other stars, such as Tom Cruise and Miles Teller, have been fielding questions regarding when the follow-up will begin production.
News broke in January that Paramount Pictures was officially developing a third “Top Gun” movie. Powell appeared at the Sundance Film Festival to screen “Hit Man” that month, where he was asked questions about the newest film in the franchise.
Powell remained tight-lipped despite the buzz, confirming any information “is all classified” at the time.
“People looked at me like I knew what was going on,” Powell told Variety at Sundance before teasing “Top Gun 3.”
“There is going to be some fun stuff being announced soon … but it was confidential to me. I talk to [Joseph] Kosinski, Cruise and Jerry [Bruckheimer] all the time. There is stuff happening and it sounds very exciting. I don’t know when I’ll be going back … I’m sure there is a jet waiting for me sometime in the future,” he joked.
In “Top Gun: Maverick,” Powell plays Lt. Jake “Hangman” Seresin. Cruise, 62, reprised his role in the sequel to his 1986 original as Navy officer and pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. In it, he trains Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Teller) and Powell’s character, among others, for a dangerous mission.
The action film became the most popular movie of Cruise’s career and was a huge hit for Paramount, grossing nearly $1.5 billion. It also won Best Sound at the 2023 Oscars.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer said in March that while progress is underway, the timeline for the sequel remains uncertain, partly due to Cruise’s busy schedule.
“We pitched Tom a story he liked. But he’s a very in-demand actor and he’s got a lot of movies lined up, so we have to wait and see,” he told People at the time.
The announcement of the third film coincided with Cruise’s new non-exclusive deal to develop franchises and original movies with Warner Bros. The contract still allows him to work for other companies like Paramount and Universal.
Cruise even attended the European premiere of “Twisters” with Powell, who said on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast episode that his “Top Gun” co-star “freakin’ loved” his new disaster film.