Top Gun 2: Jon Hamm Explains His Relationship With Tom Cruise’s Maverick

Jon Hamm explains the relationship between his character and Tom Cruise’s Maverick in the long-awaited Top Gun 2. Cruise became a superstar when the original Top Gun was released in 1986 and went on to gross $357 million. Cruise confirmed the news of Top Gun 2 way back in 2017, but the film has faced multiple delays due to casting changes and the COVID-19 pandemic.

A film as iconic as Top Gun, of course, would normally have spawned one if not multiple sequels. In this case, however, Cruise moved on to other things and Top Gun 2 remained just a dream. But now that dream is finally being realized as the officially titled Top Gun: Maverick is heading to theaters after months of COVID-related delays. Plot-wise, the Top Gun follow-up sees Cruise’s Maverick as an older, but not necessarily wiser fighter, pilot who still has not lost his need for speed. The movie’s cast also includes Miles Teller as the son of Maverick’s late co-pilot Goose along with Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell, Jake Picking, Lewis Pullman, Jay Ellis, Manny Jacinto, Monica Barbaro and Charles Parnel. The film also features a returning Val Kilmer as Maverick’s old rival Iceman.

And then there’s Mad Men star Hamm who plays a new character identified as Vice Admiral Cyclone. Going by his rank, it’s obvious that Cyclone is at the top of the heap in the Navy, which means he’s likely to have a contentious relationship with the authority-defying Maverick. Indeed Hamm has now confirmed that Cyclone and Maverick do butt heads during the course of Top Gun 2. When asked by GQ about his role in the film Hamm said:

Yeah. I play the boss, the guy who’s shaking his finger and telling Tom Cruise that he’s writing checks his body can’t cash. It’s exciting. The movie is tremendous. Talk about excited. I cannot wait for people to see this film. It’s everything you want the sequel to Top Gun to be. It’s super-great. I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s awesome.

The finger-shaker is of course a key role in a Top Gun film as, by scolding Maverick for things like buzzing towers, he helps convey to the audience just how daring and reckless Maverick truly is and helps get the audience on Maverick’s side by establishing an authority figure for him to defy. The fact that Cruise is still playing the authority-defying character this many years after Top Gun is perhaps a little surprising, but clearly Cruise wasn’t yet ready to take on the boss role and instead still wants to be the hot shot who makes his superiors spill their coffee by flying his jet too close to their heads. Of course the movie also features some genuinely young hot-shots for Cruise and company to deal with, including the aforementioned Teller as Goose’s son Rooster.

With Cruise not wanting slow down yet, Hamm seems like a solid choice for the scolding authority figure role in a Top Gun sequel. In many of his acting roles, Hamm conveys a lot of strength while still having a sense of lightness and humor, which would work well in what is essentially a cartoonish and silly universe. It will be fun to see Hamm and Cruise share the screen as antagonists when Top Gun 2 finally ends its very long journey to the big screen.

Source: GQ

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