News of Maverick’s return to the skies has dried up in the last year. Since the unfortunate passing of Tony Scott, the man responsible for making Tom Cruise look convincing as a pilot, motion on the project had stalled. Nearly an entire 365 passed between updates, the last of which came from Jerry Bruckheimer and fleshed out some of the scant plot details. Now, THR is reporting that Top Gun 2, the sequel to the 80s cheesefest, has finally landed a writer, as Justin Marks has signed on to pen the script.
Marks, who has been hard at work on the screenplay for the upcoming Jungle Book adaptation, has previously collaborated with Bruckheimer. A since-abandoned project for Warner., War Dogs revolved around dogs in the military. Now the scribe will be brushing up on his flight speak, as he begins work on the latest iteration of the Top Gun 2 script. Work began on the screenplay two years ago by The Town‘s Peter Craig, and Marks will rework that original draft for what will be his first project for Paramount and Skydance.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer will be back, and both Cruise and Val Kilmer are keen to reprise their roles. So, what will Marks be writing? Well, there’s only a few smatterings of story that’ve been revealed. Bruckheimer told the Huffington Post earlier this year that it’ll involve the effects of advancing technology on the pilots:
“The concept is, basically, are the pilots obsolete because of drones,” Bruckheimer explained. “Cruise is going to show them that they’re not obsolete. They’re here to stay.”
With Marks in place, this would suggest that Top Gun 2 will be making headway sooner than expected. We’ll let you know when we hear more.