The original sequel plans for Top Gun could not be further from what Top Gun: Maverick ended up doing with the lead character. Top Gun’s roguish antihero Maverick was a tough character to categorize. On the one hand, Tom Cruise’s charming test pilot was clearly the hero of Top Gun. However, thanks to his inflated ego, his risky flying, and the fact that the movie didn’t feature any enemy combatants until its finale, Top Gun’s Maverick was also one of the movie’s main villains. There was also Val Kilmer’s Iceman, but Maverick was often his own worst enemy throughout Top Gun’s story.
This made it tricky for the creators of Top Gun’s sequel to find a way to bring back the character that would work. The earliest plans for Top Gun: Maverick involved drone operators learning how to fly from former test pilots. Top Gun’s original director, the late, great action auteur Tony Scott, wanted to use the sequel to focus on the real-life phenomenon of drone warfare. Scott was fascinated by the idea that drone pilots could remotely fly missions and carry out assassinations from the safety of a military base. However, this pitch didn’t leave much room for Maverick’s story.
Tom Cruise’s Top Gun 2 Role Was Set To Be Smaller… And Not As An Instructor
One of the pilots who taught the drone operators would likely have been played by Cruise, but according to early plans, his character would not have played a central role in this version of Top Gun’s sequel. In 2010, Vulture reported that Cruise was willing to take on a smaller part in Top Gun: Maverick, provided it wasn’t too “obvious” a role. In stark contrast, Top Gun: Maverick ended up focusing almost entirely on Maverick’s story. Maverick took over the flight school and was very much the sequel’s main character, leading Top Gun: Maverick’s pivotal mission and saving Rooster in the climax.
While Top Gun 3’s returning characters might push Cruise’s character into the background, Top Gun: Maverick provided him with a starring role. This turned out to be the best thing for the sequel, with Cruise offering his best performance in years as the older, more reflective Maverick. Top Gun: Maverick’s creators inverted the sequel’s original plans, scrapping the idea of forgetting Maverick and instead making him the star. Cruise’s performance proved that this was the right decision, as the screen veteran earned some of the best reviews of his career for Top Gun: Maverick.
Top Gun: Maverick Wouldn’t Have Worked Without Its Tom Cruise Focus
Pushing Cruise into a supporting role would have overshadowed his character’s journey. However, it is this element that gave Top Gun: Maverick its heart. Not only that but giving Top Gun: Maverick’s returning hero a central role also gave Cruise a reason to get invested in the sequel’s stunts. If Cruise wasn’t playing the lead role in Top Gun: Maverick, the actor would likely have done fewer stunts and flying for the sequel. Instead, Cruise played a hands-on role throughout filming, and his involvement in the flying scenes made Top Gun: Maverick’s action sequences more impactful. Without this, Top Gun: Maverick would be a much weaker Top Gun sequel.