Tom Cruise’s Maverick Back for Drone Warfare-Oriented ‘Top Gun 2’

Tom Cruise is set to return to the role that made him a household name as new details were revealed Thursday about the status of Top Gun 2, the sequel to the 1986 blockbuster that starred Cruise as dogfighting U.S. Navy pilot Maverick.

At a press event for Terminator Genisys in Germany on Thursday, Skydance CEO David Ellison and CCO Dana Goldberg confirmed to Collider that the project is in development and hinted that Cruise would return as Maverick in more than just a cameo role.

“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,” Ellison told Collider. “It is I don’t think what people are going to expect, and we are very, very hopeful that we get to make the movie very soon.”

Ellison confirmed that Justin Marks (Street Figher: The Legend of Chun-Li, next year’s The Jungle Book) is currently writing the script.

“He has a phenomenal take to really update that world for what fighter pilots in the Navy has turned into today,” Ellison said of Marks.

As for what Top Gun 2‘s story will focus on: it will reportedly be all about next-generation drone warfare. Says Ellison:

“When you look at the world of dogfighting, what’s interesting about it is that it’s not a world that exists to the same degree when the original movie came out. This world has not been explored. It is very much a world we live in today where it’s drone technology and fifth generation fighters are really what the United States Navy is calling the last man-made fighter that we’re actually going to produce so it’s really exploring the end of an era of dogfighting and fighter pilots and what that culture is today are all fun things that we’re gonna get to dive into in this movie.”

Ellison also said that the movie “should be” getting the 3D and IMAX treatment.

While there’s no known timetable for the sequel’s release, fans can watch the original again in remastered 3D and Bluray to sate their need for speed.