Maverick may beryllium the oldest feline successful the squad, but he's looking nary the worse for deterioration since Cruise's archetypal go-round arsenic the best Navy aviator successful the onshore aft 3 Oscar nominations for acting (for Born connected the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia), 3 recently returned Golden Globe statues (wins for those aforesaid 3 movies), six Mission: Impossible films (with astatine slightest 2 much coming); many, galore different films; and the accomplishment of iconic movie prima status.

The begetter of Connor, Isabella and Suri Cruise has besides tirelessly powered through 3 divorces, from Mimi Rogers successful 1990, Nicole Kidman in 2000 and Katie Holmes in 2012.

Astrophysicist and civilian Top Gun teacher Charlie Blackwood took Maverick's enactment distant and theirs was a cinematic emotion communicative for the ages...or astatine slightest the 1980s, since McGillis said she was not asked to beryllium successful the sequel. And she astir didn't marque it into the archetypal film, either.

"I didn't privation to bash it," she recalled to The Guardian successful 2001. "But due to the fact that I'd done Witness, I owed Paramount different film, and my cause said, 'You person to bash this.' I took 1 look astatine it and said, 'This is similar a Western successful the sky—I don't wanna bash this.' It wasn't astir acting, it was astir being a cartoon character. You cognize what I mean? I could person done it blindfolded. I was grateful for the information that it gave maine opportunities I wouldn't different person had. But I showed up for work, did my bit, hung retired with a clump of boys, played baseball, and went home. It was similar being astatine camp. Why they hired maine I'll ne'er know."

McGillis adjacent portrayed a prosecutor seeking justness for a rape unfortunate played by eventual Oscar winner Jodie Foster in The Accused. She kept acting in the likes of The Babe, North and galore smaller films and TV movies, but she besides opened a edifice successful Florida with her yacht mogul 2nd husband, Fred Tillman, in the 1990s and enactment acting connected the backmost burner.

She has 2 daughters with Tillman, whom she divorced in 2002. She came out as cheery successful 2009 and had a civilian national ceremonial with Melanie Leis successful 2010, but they broke up the pursuing year.

"I deliberation conscionable my priorities successful beingness changed," McGillis told Entertainment Tonight in 2019 from location successful North Carolina. "It wasn't similar a large determination that I made to permission [acting], it was conscionable that different things became much important. I emotion acting, I emotion what I do, I emotion doing theater, but I don't know. To me, my relationships to different radical became acold much important than my narration to fame."

The Top Secret! and Real Genius star was arsenic chill arsenic they travel arsenic Maverick's nemesis turned chap leader successful combat Lt. Tom "Iceman" Kazansky. And he returned for the sequel successful a touching cameo, Iceman having go a four-star wide who had Maverick's rogue backmost for the past 30 years. 

After the first Top Gun, Kilmer preceded to person 1 of the premiere acting careers of the 1990s, starring in Willow, The Doors, True Romance, Tombstone, Batman Forever, Heat, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Ghost and the Darkness, The Saint and The Prince of Egypt (as the dependable of Moses and God).

Rumors swirled astir the authorities of Kilmer's wellness toward the extremity of the 2010s arsenic helium became much elusive and, successful April 2020, helium confirmed that he survived a conflict with pharynx cancer. "You whitethorn announcement I dependable similar I person a frog successful my throat. It's not. It's a buffalo," helium wrote online up of an quality connected Good Morning America, his archetypal TV interrogation successful 10 years. "Though being healed from cancer, I americium dilatory and surely regaining my speech. As I haven't fto the adversity stifle my dependable arsenic an artist."

Kilmer has 2 children, girl Mercedes and lad Jack, with ex-wife Joanne Whalley, and helium opened the doorway into his backstage satellite for the critically acclaimed 2021 documentary Val.

Goooooooose! The Revenge of the Nerds prima was known chiefly arsenic Maverick's doomed wingman, Officer Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, for a bully 8 years earlier helium landed the relation of Dr. Mark Greene on ER. Over his eight-year tally connected the amusement earlier his tearjerker of a farewell, Edwards won a Golden Globe and was nominated for 4 Emmys.

He won an Emmy successful 2010 as an enforcement producer of that year's Best TV Movie, Temple Grandin.

Edwards' acting enactment connected the large and tiny screens implicit the years has included The Client, Northfork, Zodiac, Showtime's Billions, Law & Order: True Crime and Designated Survivor, and he's presently streaming successful the inspired-by-true-scandal dramas WeCrashed on Apple TV+ and Inventing Anna on Netflix.

He has 4 children with ex-wife Jeanine Lobell, the laminitis of Stila Cosmetics, whom helium was joined to from 1994 until 2015. He married Emmy victor Mare Winningham, who besides has 4 kids, successful 2021.

"Morning coffee, get up connected quality and get retired and bash thing I'm fortunate to do," Edwards told Fox News in April 2020, giving a glimpse of his pared-down pandemic schedule. "I'm fortunate to beryllium capable to enactment connected my plot and determination are these kinds of chores that you've enactment disconnected for years."

After her affectional supporting relation arsenic Goose's wife, Carole, Ryan's career took off. After solid supporting turns in Innerspace and D.O.A. (both with aboriginal hubby Dennis Quaid, whom she joined successful 1991), she starred successful When Harry Met Sally... and the rubric of America's Sweetheart soon followed.

She had classic rom-com chemistry with Tom Hanks in Joe vs. the Volcano (playing 3 characters), Sleepless successful Seattle and You've Got Mail, arsenic good as other adorable moments in French Kiss, I.Q. (with Top Gun's Tim Robbins) and Kate and Leopold. Ryan besides did dense drama, playing Jim Morrison's long-suffering spouse Pamela Courson in The Doors (opposite Kilmer arsenic the volatile rocker), an alcoholic woman and ma in When a Man Loves a Woman, an Army skipper whose decease is posthumously investigated in Courage Under Fire, and a woman trying to get her hubby backmost from kidnappers with the assistance of nonrecreational rescuer Russell Crowe in Proof of Life.

Ryan and Quaid divorced successful 2001. They're parents of lad Jack and Ryan adopted girl Daisy successful 2004. She later dated John Mellencamp disconnected and connected for years earlier they split up for good successful 2019. 

Later enactment included In the Cut, Against the Ropes, In the Land of Women, The Women and she reunited with Hanks in Ithaca.

"Now I'm focused connected producing," Ryan told InStyle successful the summertime of 2019. "I'm besides teeing myself up to direct, and I'm moving connected a amusive e-commerce task with immoderate of my friends. But astir of all, what I'm ambitious for successful the 12 hours a time that I'm awake is my kids' happiness. I conscionable am."

After getting his commencement connected TV shows like St. Elsewhere, The Love Boat and Hill Street Blues, Robbins made his movie debut successful the teens vs. terrorists enactment movie Toy Soldiers and carpooled with John Cusack in The Sure Thing before landing the relation of Lt. Sam "Merlin" Wells. 

He was in Howard the Duck but then his vocation took disconnected aft helium plays an anxious insignificant league pitcher vying with Kevin Costner for Susan Sarandon's bosom in Bull Durham. He got the miss successful existent life, and helium and Sarandon were unneurotic for 21 years and had 2 sons, Jack and Miles, earlier amicably splitting up successful 2009. He besides directed Sarandon successful her Oscar-winning crook successful 1995's Dead Man Walking and was besides down the camera for Bob Roberts and Cradle Will Rock.

Throughout, Robbins has remained politically active, helium founded the Actors' Gang Theater Group, and helium won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar successful 2004 for Mystic River. A further sampling of his surface highlights includes Jacob's Ladder, The Player, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Shawshank Redemption, Arlington Road, cameos in Zoolander and on Portlandia, HBO's The Brink, Dark Waters and Hulu's Castle Rock.

Fresh-faced Lt. Charles "Chipper" Piper marked the movie debut of the aboriginal prima of Heroes, Colony, Political Animals, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and overmuch more. And if you haven't been seeing Pasdar, you've been proceeding him arsenic the dependable of Tony Stark/Iron Man successful his ain animated bid and assorted different Marvel shows, including Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble.

In the soma he's besides been connected the tiny surface in Lethal Weapon, Grand Hotel and Supergirl. Pasdar has a son, Jackson, with ex-wife Natalie Maines. He and the Dixie Chicks vocalist joined successful 2000 and she filed for divorcement successful 2017; the divided was settled successful 2019.

His sanction unsocial is tough. And definite enough, Lt. Cmdr Rick "Jester" Heatherly, Maverick's formation instructor, had a regard of steel.

Ironside is simply a prolific quality histrion who, since Top Gun, has showed up successful movies specified arsenic (to sanction a few) Total Recall, Starship Troopers, The Next Karate Kid, The Perfect Storm, The Machinist, Terminator: Salvation, and X-Men: First Class, as good arsenic connected TV in Walker, Texas Ranger, ER, Cold Case, Castle, Smallville, Community, Vegas, The Flash, Justified, The Alienist, Hawaii 5-0... and the database goes on. Most precocious helium appeared in The Dropout and on Barry.

He's been joined to his 2nd wife, Karen Dinwiddie, since 1986 and has 1 kid with her and different from his erstwhile marriage.

You whitethorn cognize him arsenic Julia Roberts' dada successful Steel Magnolias (or Sara Gilbert's dada in Poison Ivy—lots of begetter roles and foliage), but archetypal helium was Cmdr. Mike "Viper" Metcalf, the dependable of crushed who helps Maverick, racked with guilt implicit Goose's death, retrieve his confidence.

Born successful 1933, Skerritt has been acting since the 1960s and had antecedently starred successful the likes of MASH and Alien, truthful conscionable adhd Viper to his database of classical roles. He remained a go-to feline for instrumentality enforcement, subject men and politicians, whether it was his cameo arsenic the politician of Seattle in Singles, playing Sheriff Brock on Picket Fences (for which helium won an Emmy for Lead Actor successful a Drama successful 1993), having a crook arsenic Sen. Carrick on The West Wing, his arc arsenic a CIA cause on The Grid or showing up arsenic a bureaucratic idiosyncratic successful Contact.

He had a recurring relation arsenic the deceased but often-referred-to Walker household patriarch on Brothers & Sisters and appeared on The Good Wife and Madam Secretary. More precocious helium played a terminally sick retired bosom surgeon who returns to his hometown successful a diagnostic adaptation of David Guterson's novel East of the Mountains and the patriarch of a gun-slinging household successful the occidental Catch the Bullet.

Skerritt has 3 children from his archetypal matrimony and 1 from his second, and has been joined to 3rd wife Julie Tokashiki since 1998.

The hostility is heavy erstwhile Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell's late champion friend's son, Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, played by Teller, shows up among the Navy's latest harvest of Top Gun pilots.

Even sporting a mustache similar his dad, Anthony Edward's Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, number Rooster among the agelong database of radical who don't think overmuch of Maverick's rogue ways.

"That was each me, I showed up with it astatine the camera test," Teller, who antecedently worked with Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski connected the harrowing firefighter drama Only the Brave, told USA Today of the facial hair. "Tom was like, 'This is perfect; you look truthful overmuch similar him.'"

Powell does Iceman-dipped-in-honey as the cocky but charming Lt. Jake "Hangman" Seresin, a quality helium collaborated connected with Tom Cruise in bid to get the notes right.

"I can't apical what Val did successful the archetypal one," Powell told USA Today. "I tried to marque Hangman basal connected his own. That conscionable comes with increasing up successful Texas."

Having antecedently played astronaut John Glenn in Hidden Figures and after zooming done the skies successful existent F-18s, the histrion decided to thin into this full aviator thing, getting his certification with Cruise's help.

"So I get my pilot's license, I get to motion the full happening and they're like, 'You're a backstage pilot'—Tom had a happening waiting for me," Powell told E! News. "It was a enactment that said, 'Welcome to the skies,' and it was a certificate for stunt driving lessons."

In lawsuit his request for velocity had yet to beryllium fulfilled.

The Top Gun programme has travel a agelong way(ish) since 1986.

Barbaro plays ngo campaigner Lt. Natasha "Phoenix" Trace, Rooster's emotion involvement but archetypal and foremost a hellhole of an F/A-18F pilot.

"Of course, portion of this relation is astir being a woman," the histrion told USA Today. "But she besides represents a aviator who is conscionable precise capable."

Lt. Robert "Bob" Floyd may look bookish, but immoderate limb systems serviceman played by Bill Pullman's son obviously belongs successful the air!

"There was a feline with a motion saying 'I Love Bob' extracurricular my archetypal TV interview," the younger Pullman told USA Today. "He said to me, 'I support thinking, what would Bob do?'"

He likes that "audiences tin spot that soft-spoken radical tin go pilots. And they tin beryllium absolute road dogs successful the sky." But arsenic for his instantly iconic telephone sign...

"I similar that it doesn't person an explanation," Pullman said. "There's large enigma down Bob."

Playing Air Force Lt. Joaquin Torres in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn't crook Ramirez onto flying—but portraying the precise sure-of-himself Lt. Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia did, contempt the occasional bout with aerial sickness.

"I didn't emotion it earlier this, but I emotion flying now," helium told USA Today. "I was having truthful overmuch fun. I tin beryllium cocky successful the air."

Playing a weapons systems officer, the feline successful the level who's directing his attraction this mode and that, could beryllium a small nauseating, helium admitted. "It's similar texting successful the backmost spot of a car, but you're moving astatine 500 knots," helium explained. "So I tossed my cookies rather a bit."

Playing ngo campaigner Lieutenant Reuben "Payback" Fitch, Ellis—whose dad, two grandfathers and step-grandfather served successful the Air Force—is arrogant to represent his lineage onscreen, adjacent if it is arsenic a Navy man.

"I grew up astir aviation, and I deliberation astir the sacrifice that truthful galore men and women take—they give, rather—just for america to beryllium safe," the histrion told NBC News. "I deliberation we each wrapper our arms astir this assemblage and we support it truthful much. And we recognize the work to beryllium astonishing on-screen for these folks."

Ellis also recovered different usage for his aerial sickness container aft realizing aboriginal connected that erstwhile you're up, you're not coming down for awhile. "Every formation from determination on, I peed and I got it down to a science," helium told USA Today. "It conscionable became a thing."

"When I saw the archetypal Top Gun, evidently determination was 1 Black character, Sundown [played by Clarence Gilyard], but I don't deliberation helium was represented arsenic afloat arsenic helium could person been," Davis, who suits up arsenic Lt. Javy "Coyote" Machado, told NBC News. "So I deliberation that it's truly chill that we person the representation, not conscionable of Black characters, but of galore antithetic men and women."

Newer to being a moving actor when helium was formed successful Top Gun: Maverick ages ago but having since amassed credits including The Call of the Wild and Grey's Anatomy, he'll will make his people yet again with Cruise successful the also-years-in-the-making Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning, owed retired successful 2023. 

"Four of my six years of acting person been with Tom Cruise," the Davis remarked to USA Today. "I cannot kick astir life."

New to the franchise but not to the lore, Connelly's Penny Benjamin is the "one admiral's daughter" referred to successful the Top Gun bar scene, erstwhile Maverick's said to person "a past of high-speed passes implicit 5 aerial power towers and 1 admiral's daughter."

Goose's woman Carole (Meg Ryan, seen successful flashback in Top Gun: Maverick) mentions her by sanction erstwhile she tells her husband's champion person that Goose "told maine each astir the clip you went ballistic with Penny Benjamin."

Penny is present a barroom proprietor and azygous ma who's cautiously consenting to springiness Maverick different shot.

Someone's got to beryllium superior and successful charge. Hamm joins the fleet as Vice Admiral Beau "Cyclone" Simpson, commandant of Naval Air Forces.

"He's the big successful the room," the Emmy victor told The Hollywood Reporter. "He's not the petulant aggravated chief, and he's not the cigar-chomping feline [James Tolkan's Stinger] successful [Top Gun], whose ego is penning checks his assemblage can't cash. Cyclone is mode much successful the Tom Skerritt vein, who I truly looked to for inspiration. First of all, I emotion Tom arsenic an actor, but I loved him successful the film, too. He's got that tough-love sensibility, but helium besides has that large enactment astatine the end, 'I'll alert with you.' It's a begrudging communal respect, and my quality has a batch of that, too."

Four-time Oscar nominee Harris has a little crook arsenic Rear Admiral Chester "Hammer" Cain, caput of the Darkstar program, aka the ngo involving the SR-72 Son of Blackbird aircraft, and different serviceman who Maverick manages to transverse successful a abbreviated play of time.

"I had a bully clip connected it. Just worked a fewer days, but it was fun," the actor told NBC News' Willie Geist. "I'm definite it'll beryllium spectacular." But, helium added, "I'm conscionable truly successful the archetypal 3 minutes of it."