Top Gun Maverick stars too scared to put Tom Cruise in their pilot group chat

Top Gun: Maverick’s new recruits have a group chat for all the pilots – but none of them have been “bold” enough to put Tom Cruise in there with them.

In 1986, Cruise became a mega-star on a level that’s rarely been replicated, save for Leonardo DiCaprio after Titanic. He already had The Outsiders and Risky Business under his belt, but this made him the most in-demand young actor in the world.

More than 35 years later, Cruise might be the last great movie star, one whose iconicism transcends controversy and always comes out on top, both critically and financially… The Mummy aside.

While he headlined the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick has a host of new pilots being trained for a deadly mission, full of the same arrogance, zest, and banter that made people fall in love with Iceman and co. However, while they’re cocky, they’re not brave enough to invite Cruise to their group chat.

Top Gun Maverick stars aren’t “bold” enough to invite Tom Cruise to group chat

In an interview with Dexerto ahead of Top Gun: Maverick’s release on Blu-ray, Monica Barbaro and Lewis Pullman – who play co-pilots Phoenix and Bob, respectively – spoke about the film’s Oscar chances, the possibility of Top Gun 3, and their great many group chats.

“We have multiple group chats. We have one with all of us rookie pilot babies sans Tom… and we have another one with [Christopher McQuarrie] and Jon Hamm,” Barbaro.

“There was a minute where we were trying to beat John Ham’s best movie, which was… it wasn’t Minions, it was Despicable 3. Oh, sorry, Minions. Minions. Anyway, he was like, ‘Well, my best has made $1.3 billion.’ We were like, ‘What? What movie is he talking about?’ Anyway, just silly things like that.”

The question is: do they have a group chat for all the pilots, including Maverick himself? No – not yet, anyway.

“And then we all have Tom’s number. I don’t think we’ve like, been bold enough to start the group chat, but that’s a great idea,” Barbaro laughed.

“If we did, we would have to give him full permission to put it on mute, you know, and just come to it whenever he wanted to, you know?” Pullman said.

Tom Cruise is better than your average pal, according to Barbaro. “He’s really good at responding, actually better than probably any of us are individually,” she continued.

“So I think… I would kind of feel bad putting that responsibility on him. We’ll wait for Tom to come to us.”

Top Gun: Maverick is available on DVD, Blu-ray™& 4K Ultra-HD™ October 31.