“It’s already in the bag”- Christopher McQuarrie claims settling on the plot of ‘Top Gun 3’ wasn’t hard 

Christopher McQuarrie, who co-wrote and produced Top Gun: Maverick, has already finalized the plot for the third part of the franchise. On May 26, 2025, McQuarrie appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, hosted by Josh Horowitz.

He discussed his latest movie, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, and further stated that the plot of Top Gun 3 is already settled. When host Josh Horowitz asked if it was harder to decide on it than the second part, McQuarrie answered:

“No, it’s already in the bag. It wasn’t hard. I thought it would be, and that’s a good place to go from as you walk into the room going, ‘Come on, what are we going to do?’ And Ehren Kruger pitched something and I went, ‘Mhm actually,’ and we had one conversation about it and the framework is there. So, no, it’s not hard to crack. The truth of the matter is, none of these are hard to crack.”

He further explained that the process gets hard as you start to execute it, adding in the scale and action, among other things.

“It’s as you start to execute it, and as you start to interrogate it, as you start [to think] why these movies are made the way they are. It’s not the action, it’s not even the level of or intensity of or the scope and scale of the action [or] the engineering around the action, it’s none of those things — it’s the emotion,” he said.

Notably, further details about the third part, like a potential release date, cast, etc., are currently unknown.

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Tom Cruise on Top Gun 3

'Tom Cruise at Press Conference (Image Source: Getty)

Christopher McQuarrie isn't the only one to have spoken about the franchise's third installment. Lead actor Tom Cruise also addressed it in an interview with the Today Show Australia on May 15. He revealed that discussions are underway for not just Top Gun's third part but also for a sequel of Days of Thunder, as per Variety's May 18, 2025, report.

“Yeah, we’re thinking and talking about many different stories and what could we do and what’s possible. It took me 35 years to figure out ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, so all of these things we’re working on, we’re discussing ‘Days of Thunder’ and ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’” Cruise said.

Top Gun, released in 1986, featuring Tom Cruise in the lead, remains a cult classic movie. It is known for its flight action sequences, along with its storyline and characters. Its sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, was released in 2022 and earned over $1.49 billion worldwide.

Meanwhile, Days of Thunder was released in 1990 and became another popular racing movie. As per Variety, Cruise and producer Jerry Bruckheimer were in talks for a sequel in November 2024 as well.

Cruise also said in the Today Show Australia interview that he's always in talks with Christopher McQuarrie regarding sequels and new projects.

"[‘Mission: Impossible’ director Christopher McQuarrie] and I are always working on several different films,” he said.

As per Variety, Ehren Kruger is expected to return as co-writer for Top Gun 3, while Joseph Kosinski could potentially return as the director.

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