Over 30 years, Top Gun dazzled moviegoing audiences with aerial feats, pilot camaraderie and iconic Kenny Loggins theme music. As Hollywood has proven on numerous occasions, there's no time limit when it comes to releasing sequels, and in recent years there have been reports about a Top Gun sequel being in the works. Now we have official confirmation from Tom Cruise, a.k.a. Maverick himself, that Top Gun 2 is indeed happening. When questioned on if the rumors about the project were true, he grinned and responded, "It's true." Cruise then added:

I'm gonna start filming it probably in the next year...it is definitely happening.

Well, folks, it's time to rev up your engine and listen to her howlin' roar. Following years of uncertainty over whether or not Top Gun 2 would get off the ground (pun slightly intended), Tom Cruise confirmed during his Sunrise appearance that the sequel is scheduled to begin production sometime in the next year. Cruise is already keeping busy with the Mission: Impossible franchise, the Dark Universe franchise and Live Die Repeat and Repeat, but in between all that blockbuster fare, he's squeezing in the return of Lieutenant Pete Mitchell, better known to cinephiles as Maverick.

Top Gun 2 has been in development since 2010, but following the tragic suicide of director Tony Scott in 2012, who had expressed interesting in helming the sequel, it was unclear whether this endeavor would move forward. By 2013, it appeared that the pieces were being picked back up, and the last big update came in 2014, when it was announced that The Jungle Book screenwriter Justin Marks would pen the Top Gun 2 script. Tom Cruise has also declared that Top Gun 2 will not rely on CGI to pull off any amazing flying stunts. Just like with the first movie, the jets will be real, and Cruise plans on being in the cockpit as much as possible.

The last time we saw Maverick in Top Gun, he had taken a flight instructor position and reunited with his love interest, Charlie Blackwood, played by Kelly McGillis. A lot can happen in 30+ years, but given that the sequel will still have "Top Gu"n in the title, one can surmise that Maverick remains a senior instructor at the school, though that's not to say he couldn't be recruited for some kind of mission. So far Cruise is the only actor confirmed to star in Top Gun 2, so we'll have to wait and see if McGillis, Val Kilmer and any of the other prominent stars will return alongside him. Hell, maybe they can sneak Tim Robbins and Adrian Pasdar in there. Both of them played minor characters in Top Gun, but they've made impressive strides in their acting careers since then to warrant bigger roles.