This Actor Doesn’t Think He Will Return for TOP GUN 3

Published: March 31, 2025

A scene from Top Gun — Photo from TOP GUN EPK

By Kayla DeKraker

A TOP GUN: MAVERICK sequel is in the works, but not all cast members will return for the next movie, including Ed Harris, who played Radm. Chester ‘Hammer’ Cain.

“Oh, I doubt it. Yeah, no I don’t see why they would ask me,” he told JOE UK when asked about his return to the role. But Harris only spoke positively of his experience on MAVERICK, saying he had a “good time.”

Men’s Journal noted that while Harris might not appear in the third TOP GUN movie, MAVERICK stars Glen Powell and Miles Teller are expected to return.

Movieguide® nominated TOP GUN: MAVERICK for a Teddy Bear Award®, praising its patriotic and uplifting themes:

TOP GUN: MAVERICK is a sequel to the popular 1986 hit starring Tom Cruise. Cruise plays Pete “Maverick” Mitchell who after 30 years as a fighter pilot is now a test pilot. After he crashes a supersonic jet, Maverick is sent to the Top Gun school in San Diego to pick six fighter pilots for a dangerous mission to bomb a uranium enrichment plant in a foreign country. He faces two major obstacles. First, the mission looks impossible. Second, one candidate is the son of his late friend, Goose, who died on a training flight with Maverick.

TOP GUN: MAVERICK is a terrific, powerful, exciting movie. It’s full of high drama and heart-pounding action scenes. This role was made for Tom Cruise. He gets great support from Miles Teller as Goose’s son and Jennifer Connelly as Maverick’s romantic interest. TOP GUN: MAVERICK has a strong moral, Pro-American, patriotic worldview. It also tells a strong redemptive story leading to sacrifice, forgiveness and reconciliation. However, TOP GUN: MAVERICK is marred by too many obscenities and three strong profanities. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong or extreme caution.

While TOP GUN 3 is in the works, no release date or information about when production will begin has been announced. The creators want to make sure the third installment lives up to its legacy.

“They’re diligently working on the script and wanting to get it right,” Jay Ellis, who played the role of Reuben ‘Payback’ Fitch, explained. “Tom [Cruise] was very discerning. It took a while to make TOP GUN: MAVERICK for a reason. He wanted it to be right, he wanted to push film forward, he wanted to be able to film in the jets.”

He continued, “So I think when we look at whatever the next iteration of this franchise is, it’s gonna be that. Tom’s gonna take his time. He’s gonna get it right. Jerry [Bruckheimer] is gonna be there. Joe Kosinski is back as well, producing. I think it’s a very creative group of folks, who want to make sure the story is right [and] want to make sure the audience is wildly satisfied.”

Last summer, Cruise took to Instagram to share photos from the original TOP GUN film, which came out 38 years ago.

“It’s incredible to look back on the thirty-eight years of Top Gun,” he said. “To the fans who have been with us since the start, there wouldn’t be a Top Gun Day without you.”