Summary
- Top Gun 3 may struggle to engage viewers due to competition for screen time with Maverick's story.
- Supporting stars like Phoenix and Bob were underutilized in Top Gun: Maverick, overshadowed by Maverick.
- Top Gun 3 needs to expand focus beyond Maverick to fully explore the potential of its ensemble cast.
Although Top Gun: Maverick did introduce a slew of new characters to the series, one deleted scene will make it harder for Top Gun 3 to get viewers invested in them. Top Gun was a singularly focused movie despite the presence of memorable supporting stars like Val Kilmer’s Iceman and Tom Skerritt’s Viper. Director Tony Scott’s cult classic is the story of Tom Cruise’s Maverick through and through, with viewers following the feckless test pilot through the dizzying highs and devastating lows of the titular flight school. In contrast, Top Gun: Maverick’s story gave its supporting stars more screen time.
By Top Gun: Maverick’s ending, it was clear that the sequel was still firmly focused on Cruise’s character. However, Miles Teller’s Rooster got a lot of screen time throughout the movie and viewers got intriguing glimpses of other interesting supporting stars such as Glen Powell’s Hangman and Jon Hamm’s Cyclone. While Top Gun 3’s story could expand on the sequel's thinly-sketched character arcs, one problem from Top Gun: Maverick doesn’t bode well for this possibility. Top Gun: Maverick cut a scene that would have made two of its supporting stars more important, giving their screen time to Maverick instead.
Top Gun: Maverick Cut A Pivotal Phoenix/Bob Scene
Top Gun: Maverick’s Supporting Stars Originally Got More Focus
According to Top Gun: Maverick’s director Joseph Kosinski, the sequel originally included a “Nice scene in the infirmary with Cyclone and Phoenix and Bob” that would have confirmed the pair were safe and well after their accident during training. While cutting Top Gun: Maverick’s earlier deleted scene preserved the movie’s twist ending, the decision to delete this moment came from a desire to focus on Maverick. Per Kosinski, keeping this scene in could have sapped the tension from Maverick telling Rooster that the duo was stable. This approach underlines a problem with the sequel's story.
Top Gun: Maverick barely gave Monica Barbaro’s Phoenix and Lewis Pullman’s Bob any screen time.
Top Gun: Maverick prioritized Maverick’s story over the movie’s supporting stars, meaning many promising minor characters were largely ignored after their initial introduction. Top Gun: Maverick barely gave Monica Barbaro’s Phoenix and Lewis Pullman’s Bob any screen time, while Jon Hamm and Ed Harris were mostly wasted in one-note villain roles. This was particularly unfortunate since Barbaro’s Top Gun: Maverick character Phoenix could have had a subplot exploring misogyny in the Navy, while Bob’s quiet demeanor meant he stood out among his macho fellow recruits. Both characters had a lot of untapped potential that Cruise’s star power overshadowed.
Top Gun: Maverick’s Cut Scene Highlights An Unfortunate Issue
The Franchise Tends To Prioritize Maverick’s Story
The fact that Bob and Phoenix’s scene was cut proves that their character originally received more focus before the creators pared down the story to hone in on Maverick’s character arc. Centring Maverick’s story worked for Top Gun: Maverick, with the movie earning better reviews and even bigger box office returns than its predecessor. However, this doesn’t mean that the franchise can keep doubling down on this approach. Viewers should get to see more of Phoenix, Bob, and other supporting stars when the upcoming Top Gun 3 arrives, even if this means Maverick has to take a backseat.
Maverick’s story ends in a satisfying place when Top Gun: Maverick's story wraps up, with his professional, personal, and romantic life saved from the disaster they were at the beginning of the sequel. As such, Top Gun 3 can focus less on Maverick and more on the characters surrounding him. Instead of cutting scenes like Phoenix and Bob’s time in the infirmary, Top Gun 3 could add more of these moments and give viewers more insight into their lives. In doing so, Top Gun 3 can open up the world of the series beyond Maverick’s limited perspective.