Expected in theaters from May 25, the film “Top Gun: Maverick” will see Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer reprise their roles. Kelly McGillis, who played Charlie, the woman with whom the hero had a torrid romance, will be completely absent from the story.
According to director Joseph Kosinski, the possibility of bringing this character back to the screen for the sequel to Top Gun was never considered by the production. “That was not part of the stories we talked about. I didn’t want all the stories to be turned to the past. It was important to insert new characters”, he specifies according to the American site Variety.
In 2019, when the film project was officially announced, Kelly McGillis, now 64, was lucid about the fact that no one had offered her to participate in this sequel. “I’m old, I’m fat, and my looks match my age. This is not what is wanted for the film. Me, I much prefer to feel good about myself and true to my age rather than giving value to any other consideration, ”she explained.
Meg Ryan, who played the wife of the character played by Anthony Edwards, Goose, and who is the mother of Bradley Bradshaw – played by Miles Teller – in Top Gun: Maverick is also absent from the sequel. Even if its existence is, at least, mentioned on the screen.
In the end, it is Jennifer Connely, 51, who holds the top billing in the skin of the character of Penny Benjamin, the daughter of an Admiral with whom Maverick had an affair, and who is mentioned in the film. original. In this sequel, she is a single mother who runs the bar where Top Gun school recruits used to hang out.
“Penny Benjamin, a character we’ve heard of but who has never seen on screen, gave us a wonderful opportunity to offer this role to Jennifer Connelly in the film”, specifies Joseph Kosinski.