As Top Gun is set to return to movie theaters for its 40th anniversary, where are the cast now?

Top Gun is returning to movie theaters in celebration of its 40th anniversary.

It is set for a limited one-week return to AMC Theatres locations nationwide beginning May 13 as the original was released in 1986.

The 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick will also be playing at the events for a special double feature.

The re-release will allow fans who were unable to watch the film in a theater to experience both films on the big screen.

Both Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer returned to their iconic roles as Capt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell and Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, respectively, when the sequel was released. 

However, many fans of the original were disappointed to learn that most of the stars from the first installment would not be making it for the second film.

For some characters, it makes sense for them not to return. Anthony Edwards played Maverick’s notorious alley Goose who died during the film. 

Audiences first met Maverick and the rest of this cast of characters in the original 1986 version of Top Gun in which he is recruited to train in the prestigious Top Gun Naval Fights Weapon School. The reckless rebel struggles to fit in and ruffles some feathers, especially those of Iceman. 

Now Daily Mail looks at the cast of the original Top Gun film and reveals where they are now…

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise was already a fast rising star by the time he was cast as protagonist  Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in the 1986 blockbuster.

The now 63-year-old actor had since cemented himself as one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood and has consistently become one of the highest-paid actors in the world for decades.

His breakthrough leading role came three years before Top Gun as he starred in 1983’s Risky Business.

Cruise did not stop his rapid rise to the top as he went on to close out the 1980s starring in  The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988), and Born on the Fourth of July (1989).

He cemented his legacy as a top leading man the next decade with a run including A Few Good Men (1992), the thriller The Firm (1993), the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), and the sports comedy-drama Jerry Maguire (1996). 

Cruise reached even higher levels in the 2000s with roles including: Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), Knight and Day (2010), Jack Reacher (2012), Oblivion (2013), Edge of Tomorrow (2014).

However, arguably his biggest role came as Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible film series which began in 1996.

He has starred in a total of eight films from the franchise over three decades including: Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), Mission: Impossible III (2006),  Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025).

Cruise did eventually return for his iconic role in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick which was a critical and commercial success grossing $1.486billion worldwide.

The actor himself is a blockbuster machine as he holds the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive $100million-grossing movies with 11 films from 2012 to 2025. 

Val Kilmer

Val Kilmer sadly died at the age of 65 on April 1, 2025 after a battle with throat cancer.

Kilmer was known for his role as Iceman in Top Gun and as Batman/Bruce Wayne in the 1995 Batman Forever. 

Despite his permanently damaged voice, he made a brief return to the screen in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, reprising his role as Iceman opposite Cruise. It was his final big screen appearance.

Viewers were reduced to tears at the emotional scenes at the time and fans have been re-watching the poignant moment after the news of Kilmer’s death. 

In his 2020 memoir, I’m Your Huckleberry, he wrote that he thought he was going to die and even confessed that he ‘begged’ to be in the Top Gun sequel.

‘Tom was Maverick, but Maverick’s nemesis was Iceman. The two went together like salt and pepper,’ he wrote.

‘It didn’t matter that the producers didn’t contact me. As The Temptations sang in the heyday of Motown soul, “Ain’t too proud to beg,”‘ he added.

The Los Angeles native also famously played musician Jim Morrison in the 1991 film The Doors. 

Kilmer underwent both radiotherapy and chemotherapy for his cancer as well as a tracheostomy a procedure to create an artificial hole in this neck to help him breathe.

The latter permanently damaged his vocal cords and consequentially forever altered his speaking voice.

Kilmer reported in 2020 that he had been cancer-free for four years.

Surprisingly Kilmer will be returning to the big screen in a posthumous role thanks to AI as he had already signed on to star in As Deep As The Grave prior tohis death. 

Kilmer was unable to film because of his health, so filmmakers decided to use AI to see Kilmer portray Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist Father Fintan. 

While many stars have rallied against the use of AI actors in movie roles, the decision was made with the blessing of Kilmer’s estate and his two children Mercedes and Jack, who provided younger images and footage of his final years to help with the AI rendering. 

Meg Ryan

Meg Ryan was just 25 years old when she played Carole Bradshaw, one of Maverick’s co-pilot Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw’s wife. 

After Top Gun, the now-64-year-old went on to become the queen of rom coms during the 90s, starring in When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle.

She became one of the biggest names in Hollywood, but her career took a nose dive after receiving harsh criticism for her 2003 erotic thriller In the Cut. 

However, the backlash didn’t get her down too much. ‘I think the feeling with Hollywood was mutual, she told The NY Times in 2019. ‘I felt done when they felt done, probably.’ 

The former actress felt ‘burnt out’ and admitted that becoming an actress was never a lifelong dream of hers.

‘I felt in a crazy way that, as an actor, I was burning through life experiences,’ she told the outlet. ‘I was burned out. I didn’t feel like I knew enough anymore about myself or the world to reflect it as an actor. I felt isolated.’

Even though she felt burnt out by the time In The Cut hit the big screen, she continued to take on small roles in TV shows and movies including Serious Moonlight, Fan Girl and Ithaca. Her most recent credit is from the sereis Picture Paris in 2018.

She also came under fire for the extensive plastic surgery she has gotten done. Fans first started to notice a drastic change in her face in 2016. 

Plastic surgeon Mark Youssef weighed in on the surgery at the time to with HollywoodLife, claiming, ‘She may have done too much’ and that she ‘doesn’t look like the Meg Ryan that we all love.’ 

‘The most obvious thing that she’s had done is some sort of filler or fat transfer to her cheek,’ he explained.

He added: ‘It’s definitely too much because the apple of her cheek is too full and too large. When she smiles, all of that filler moves up and makes her eyes look smaller.’ 

‘The reason she looks masculine is because of the placement of the volume in her cheeks. The volume of the filler should have been placed more laterally to give her a softer look.’

Since Ryan herself admitted her Hollywood career has been over for a while, it’s no surprise that she wasn’t asked back for Top Gun: Maverick. 

Kelly McGillis

Kelly McGillis, 68, who played Maverick’s love interest, Charlotte Blackwood, and Meg Ryan, 60, who played Goose’s wife, Carole Bradshaw, weren’t asked to return for the sequel, and it was due to a decision made by the creative team.

Not only are there new cast members this time around, but there’s a new director. 

Joseph Kosinski filled in place of the film’s original director, Tony Scott, who died from suicide in 2012. 

Kosinski was clear about his intentions for going in a new direction with Top Gun: Maverick and didn’t ask plenty of members of the new cast back for the sequel.

During an interview with Insider, he explained why McGillis and Ryan who played Anthony Edwards’ character Goose’s wife, weren’t asked back for Top Gun: Maverick.

‘Those weren’t stories that we were throwing around,’ Kosinski told the outlet of the actresses’ characters. ‘I didn’t want every storyline to always be looking backwards. It was important to introduce some new characters.’

Even though Kosinski just revealed the true reason they weren’t included, McGillis had admitted that she hadn’t back in 2019. 

When asked if she had received a call about the sequel, she responded, ‘Oh my God no they did not, and nor do I think they would ever.’

‘I’m old and I’m fat, and I look age-appropriate for what my age is. And that is not what the whole scene is about.’ 

‘To me, I’d much rather feel absolutely secure in my skin and who and what I am at my age as opposed to placing a value on all that other stuff,’ she concluded.

She may not have been too heartbroken about not receiving the offer since she had made the decision to step back from Hollywood anyway after Top Gun came out in 1986.

 ‘I think just my priorities in life changed,’ she told ET. ‘It wasn’t like a major decision that I made to leave, it was just that other things became more important.’

 ‘It was very challenging for me to have any kind of sense of self or self-identity or real self-worth other than what I did for a living.’

 ‘And it just — it didn’t become a priority; what became the priority initially was raising my girls and being the best sober parent I could be,’ she explained.

Even though she stepped back from Hollywood, she didn’t step away from it entirely. Over the past four decades, she has starred in TV movies like Blue and played guest roles on TV shows like The L Word.

Most recently, she appeared in the 2020 limited series Dirty John. 

Anthony Edwards

Anthony Edwards, 63, famously portrayed LTJG Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw in the 1986 flick.

He portrayed the best friend and intercept officer of Tom Cruise’s character Maverick and famously perished in the film.

For obvious reasons he did not return for 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick but was featured in flashback scenes.

His character’s spirit was a major part of the film as his son Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw was played by Miles Teller.

Edwards best known role was not actually Top Gun, however, as he played Dr. Mark Greene on the first eight seasons of iconic medical drama ER from 1994 to 2002.

The role earned him a golden Globe Award and six Screen Actors Guild Awards, and was even nominated for four consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards.

He has enjoyed a long-running career including roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Top Gun, Zodiac, Gotcha!, Miracle Mile, Revenge of the Nerds, Thunderbirds, Planes, Northern Exposure, and Designated Survivor.

His latest role was starring as Dr. Chauncy Everett in one episode of Tales of the Walking Dead in 2022. 

Michael Ironside

Michael Ironside, 76, didn’t return because of his contentious relationship Jerry Bruckheimer, who served as a producer for Top Gun and returned for Top Gun: Maverick. 

In Top gun, Ironside played Rick ‘Jester’ Heatherly, a naval aviator and one of the instructors who taught Maverick and the other trainees. However, he won’t be back for round two.

‘I’m not going to be in this film,’ he told THR of the sequel back in 2018 when it was first announced. ‘The one person still in charge is Jerry Bruckheimer and Mr. Bruckheimer and I don’t really get along, or didn’t get along.’ 

‘He offered me a project 10 or 12 years ago and … I said no to it,’ he said of the origin of their beef. 

He added: ‘The next time I saw him at a hockey game… I went up and said, “Hey Jerry,” and he just turned around and I figured, “Well that relationship is over with.”‘

Even though he may have burned his bridges with Bruckheimer, Ironside still went on to have a successful career. 

He starred in some of his biggest gigs in the 90s including  Starship Troopers and Total Recall. 

He’s still active in the industry and has appeared in movies and well-known shows like Desperate Housewives. He also has many projects in the works and his most recent film role was starring as Dr. Jonathan Myers in the film Marrow released earlier this year.

Tom Skerritt

Tom Skerritt, 92, played Mike ‘Viper’ Metcalf, who is not only one of Maverick’s instructor but a good friend of his father.

Admittedly, Skerritt had a feeling he wouldn’t be asked to return for the sequel before casting even went under way.

During an interview with Deluxe Edition: A Classic Pop Culture Podcast, he admitted that he thought ‘the only way I’d be in the film I’m sure would be just simply 30 years later, that they would be coming to my character’s funeral.’

Ironically, he was asked to film for a funeral but it wasn’t his character’s. 

‘So as it happens, they asked me down to be at the funeral of Iceman,’ he continued.

However, just because he filmed for Top Gun: Maverick, it doesn’t mean he made it into the film. 

‘So I went down there for a day and I was in that scene [but] I don’t think that I’ll be in the film at all. It’s just me in the crowd of people,’ he explained.

Even though fans may not be able to see him in Top Gun: Maverick, they can re-watch his 1997 film Contact and his role on MASH which he filmed before his Top Gun days.

His acting career has slowed down a bit but he did have a small role in 2025 western film Broke alongside Dennis Quaid and Wyatt Russell.