Top Gun: Maverick has been a long time coming. The long-awaited sequel finally arrives this May, and the press tour has officially begun with Tom Cruise and his crew talking to Total Film for the latest issue of the magazine. Now, a new trailer has arrived, revealing just how Maverick is brought back into the fold.
The footage starts with a new set of Top Gun students being brought together, including Hangman, played by Glen Powell. "Everyone here is the best there is," says one new student. "Who the hell are they going to get to teach us?"
Smash cut to Cruise's Maverick, who's asked by Jon Hamm's new Vice Admiral whether he can come aboard the Top Gun program again. "You were not my first choice," Hamm says as it becomes clear Val Kilmer's Iceman, now an Admiral, is behind the invitation.
"I'm not a teacher, Sir," Maverick responds. "I just want to manage expectations."
What follows is a montage of everything we love about the original Top Gun: smart-talking recruits, beach volleyball, Cruise riding a motorbike, that iconic soundtrack, and the need – the need for speed. "Having fun yet?" Maverick asks. Answering 'yes' would be an understatement.
Total Film spoke to the filmmaking team behind Top Gun: Maverick, with director Joe Kosinski saying that bringing back Kilmer was a particularly special moment.
"That was a huge, huge get – having Val come back to play Iceman,” beams Kosinski. "To get to work with an actor of that caliber, to see the chemistry, the camaraderie between him and Tom, and to have those two characters reunite in this film, was a really special moment, and one of my favorite parts of the film."
Cruise, meanwhile, put the new cast through their paces, with Miles Teller revealing all about "Tom Cruise boot camp" in which they learned to fly jets.
For much more from Cruise, Miles Teller, the new cast, and the filmmaking team of Kosinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and writer Christopher McQuarrie, check out the new issue of Total Film when it hits shelves on Thursday 31 March. Top Gun: Maverick opens in UK cinemas on May 25, and US cinemas on May 27.
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