TOP GUN: MAVERICK Director Explains Why Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan Aren't in the Film

Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski recently explained in an interview with Insider why Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan don't appear in the sequel.

Ryan played Goose’s wife Carole Bradshaw in the original movie ,and while she’s not in the sequel her spirit is certainly felt in it. The story for the sequel is very much connected to the original film as Goose’s son plays a major part in it.

As for McGillis's Charlotte Blackwood, who was Tom Cruise's on-screen love interest in the first movie, it just made sense that relationship was never going to work out. But when asked why these two characters weren’t included, Kosinski said:

"Those weren't stories that we were throwing around. I didn't want every storyline to always be looking backwards. It was important to introduce some new characters.”

Regardless of those characters not being included in the movie, it was a freakin’ awesome movie and fans are going to love it!

The movie also stars Miles Teller as Goose's son Bradley Bradshaw, Glen Powell, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, and Lewis Pullman.

Jennifer Connelly plays Penny Benjamin in the movie, "the Admiral's daughter" who is referred to in the first film. She now owns a bar near the flight school Maverick teaches at. When talking about this character, Kosinski said:

"Penny Benjamin, a character we have heard mentioned but never seen before, that was an amazing opportunity to bring Jennifer Connelly's character into this film.”

After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”

Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.

The movie will be released on May 27th, 2022.