The latest casting news about the anxiously-awaited Top Gun sequel is that Miles Teller will be joining Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer.

Variety reports this afternoon that the Teller has been recruited to join gate cast of Paramount and Skydance’s sequel, rumored to be titled Top Gun: Maverick. Teller will play Maverick’s new protege, who also happens to be the son of LT JG Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), Maverick’s RIO (Radar Intercept Officer) and best-buddy in the 1986 original.

According to Top Gun Wiki, Goose’s son in the original movie was named Bradley Bradshaw.

Last week, we learned that testing for the role was underway, and Teller was among the frontrunners since he recently starred in director Joseph Kosinski’s Only The Brave.

The cast is gradually coming together, but it will be interesting to see if they intend to lure Meg Ryan back for the project. Or even Kelly McGillis for that matter.

Teller is best known for his BAFTA-nominated role in Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash and his recurring role as Peter in the Divergent franchise. He recently appeared in in the boxing drama Bleed For This and will next be seen in Nicholas Winding Refn’s Amazon original series Too Old to Die Young, which is expected to premiere in 2019. He also played Reed Richards in the utterly dreadful Fantastic Four reboot.

Although the plot is being kept under wraps, it’s been previously reported that Cruise’s character would now be a flight instructor and that the film would explore a world of drone technology, fifth-generation fighters and the end of the era of dog-fighting. Joseph Kosinski, who is directing the sequel, said that his approach would be “appropriate for the times we live in.”

Top Gun: Maverick is set to hit theaters on July 12, 2019.

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