It’s been almost 30 years since Top Gun introduced the world to Tom Cruise’s impossibly cool United States Naval Aviator Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, but plans for a sequel continue to move along. The latest update on the follow-up to the ’80s classic has writer Justin Marks attached to work on a script for the film.
Marks, whose script for a live-action/CGI adaptation of The Jungle Book is currently in production with Jon Favreau directing the film, has worked on various genre projects over the years, including the 2009 video-game movie Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the sequel to Top Gun will explore the relevance of human pilots at a time when drones have become the go-to military unit for air-based warfare. Cruise is expected to reprise his role as Maverick.
Marks will reportedly work on the latest draft of the script penned by Peter Craig (The Town), who wrote that version when original Top Gun director Tony Scott was attached to direct the sequel. Scott committed suicide in 2012, and the project stalled out in the aftermath.
Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions are producing the Top Gun sequel, which doesn’t have a release date at this point.
