Miles Teller, best known for his role in Top Gun: Maverick, got candid about what it would take for him to get back into fighter-pilot shape, should a third Top Gun movie become a reality.
When asked if Top Gun 3 was officially happening, Teller said he doesn’t exactly have control over such decisions. (Photo Credits: Instagram)
If there’s one thing Miles Teller takes seriously, it’s prepping for those legendary Top Gun abs. The actor, best known for his role in Top Gun: Maverick with Tom Cruise, recently got candid about what it would take for him to get back into fighter-pilot shape, should a third Top Gun movie become a reality.
When asked if Top Gun 3 was officially happening, Teller made it clear that he doesn’t exactly have control over such decisions. “Look, you might be shocked, but I do not greenlight that thing. I have nothing to do with it,” he said. Still, should the film move forward, Teller has one request: plenty of time to train.
“I just told Tom Cruise, I said, give me enough time and a heads up for me to get in shape. It’s one month per ab. I need a six-month heads-up,” he said during The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on February 4.
Host Colbert, not one to let things go, pressed again for confirmation. “So yes, it’s happening is what you’re saying?” the host asked, hoping for a definitive answer. Teller, however, played it cool. “I don’t know. There’s a lot of enthusiasm on the fans’ side. There’s a lot of enthusiasm on the creative side,” he replied, leaving the possibility open-ended.
Watch it here:
If Top Gun 3 does take off, fans will no doubt be expecting another iconic beach sports scene like the one in Top Gun: Maverick—the very moment that sent the internet into a frenzy when the film premiered in 2022.
Teller, along with co-stars Glen Powell, Greg Tarzan Davis, Jay Ellis, Monica Barbar, and Lewis Pullman, delivered one of the most talked-about moments of the movie: a sun-soaked, sweat-drenched game of beach football that showed their intense training. The scene became so beloved that Paramount+ reportedly released a three-hour loop of it in December 2022.
In Top Gun: Maverick, Cruise’s Pete Maverick Mitchell used that bonding exercise as a way to unite his young recruits, a nod to his own past experiences as a trainee in the original Top Gun.
With the film grossing nearly $1.5 billion worldwide, it’s no surprise that speculation about a third instalment has been swirling ever since its release. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer even confirmed in March 2024 that Top Gun 3 is, indeed, in the works.
“We pitched Tom a story he liked. But he’s a very in-demand actor and he’s got a lot of movies lined up, so we have to wait and see,” Bruckheimer, 80, told People at the time. Adding even more fuel to the fire, Glen Powell hinted during a July 2024 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he might know when production will begin.
For now, fans can revisit Top Gun: Maverick, or, if they prefer, its three-hour-long beach football loop, by streaming it on Paramount+.
