Lewis Pullman believes Tom Cruise wouldn’t make a third Top Gun movie unless the story “really needs to be told”.

During Thursday’s episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Top Gun: Maverick star was asked about a third Top Gun movie being in development.

“Tom (Cruise) would always say this, Top Gun: Maverick, was like hitting a bullet with a bullet. That was his phrase, which is like, meaning, you know, the amount of variables that needed to align perfectly for that to be a success was infinite,” Lewis said. “It was not unbeknownst to him that he was taking a massive amount of risks in tainting, you know, sacred ground – and he took that very seriously. He did not take that lightly at all.”

The actor continued, “So, I don’t think he would do it just for the sake of doing it. It would have to feel like a continuation that really is earned and really needs to be told.

“I’m sure there’s, you know, some of the best minds behind that – this whole team that they could do that – you know, whatever that looks like, I don’t know.”

Lewis played LT Robert ‘Bob’ Floyd in the 2022 movie, the long-awaited sequel to 1986’s Top Gun.

It was reported in January that a third Top Gun movie was in development and producer Bruckheimer confirmed to ScreenRant in March that Cruise was onboard to star in the threequel.

“We have a story. (Maverick director) Joe Kosinski had a wonderful story idea for it, and (Tom) said, ‘I really like that,’ so we’re developing it. But you never know when it’s going to get made because Tom is so busy,” he explained. “Hopefully, we’ll get a screenplay that he loves, and we’ll be back in the air again.”

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