Top Gun TV show will pit real pilots against each other

❘ Published: 2023-10-17T11:12:56

Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick, one of the best Fourth of July movies

Paramount Pictures

Maverick might have been called back to Top Gun last year, but now viewers can experience the rush for themselves thanks to an all-new TV docuseries.

35 years after its original film, Tom Cruise and Top Gun: Maverick both returned to dominate the big screen and the international box office.

The sequel quickly passed Avengers: Endgame box office figures in the US, suggesting that the appetite for action-adventure across the skies is still as big as it was in the 1980s. Now, a new TV show is set to answer the call of the brave.

Courtesy of National Geographic, Maverick’s world is set to cross over into real life, pitting authentic pilots against each other in demanding training regimes.

Top Gun TV docuseries follows Navy’s “most demanding” training

A new Top Gun TV docuseries, with the working title of Top Gun: The Next Generation, is set to follow students of one of the US Navy’s most demanding training programs.

During this selection process, students will train to join the ranks of the most elite fighter pilots in the country, echoing the plot fans see in both Top Gun and its 2022 sequel.

Viewers are set to watch the rookie fliers embark on the most challenging flight tests possible – including landing on an aircraft carrier at sea. According to the show, only the very best will make it through to fly the world’s most advanced jet, also known as the F-35C Lightning II.

“With so many millions of fans of the film around the world, I was immediately drawn to this series – these elite jet pilots are not only extremely accomplished and impressive, but all have very different stories to tell,” said Tom McDonald, EVP, Global Factual and Unscripted Content at National Geographic in a statement.

“With Nat Geo’s exclusive unprecedented inside access, this series promises to be an exhilarating, visually jaw-dropping, and fascinating journey into the intensely competitive world of elite flying.”

“The intimate access we have gained to the characters and the emotional character-led story arcs that run through the series will paint a vivid, compelling narrative around the young men and women embarking on this highly stressful process,” added Tayna Shaw, managing director at Zinc Television.

“That narrative will elevate the series beyond the noise and spectacle of fighter jets to tell the tense, nuanced, and poignant human stories behind the public-facing bravado. This is a unique project and we are thrilled to be bringing it to viewers.”

The observational documentary has no set release window in place as of writing.

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