Here's Where You Know The Cast Of Top Gun: Maverick From

When "Top Gun" premiered in 1986, its cast of hot young stars were still mostly at the beginning of their careers. Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Meg Ryan, and more would all be catapulted to superstardom by the film, which was about a naval flight school. Its over-the-top soundtrack, shirtless volleyball scenes, and instantly-quotable dialogue had everyone feeling the need... the need for speed!

And then it took over three decades to make a sequel. "Top Gun: Maverick" brings Cruise's hotshot pilot back to the skies; this time around, he's bringing a new class of fighter pilots along for the ride. And it really was Cruise who brought the actors into the cockpit; the action star, who also served as a producer on the film, literally taught his co-stars how to fly. "I developed a whole program for the actors ... It was every step of the way. I had to teach them how to fly. I had to teach them how to handle Gs. I had to get them confident in the airplane," Cruise told Total Film.

The sequel was delayed numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it finally hit theaters in May 2022. As you are introduced to the new naval aviators who make up the world of "Top Gun: Maverick," with instant-classic code-names like Harvard and Rooster, you may be wondering where you've seen them before. Never fear; we've got your flight class roster right here.

Aside from Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer is one of the only original "Top Gun" cast members to reprise their role in the sequel. Kilmer famously played Iceman, a fighter pilot at the top of the TOPGUN class, but even though his spiked blonde hair became iconic, he was almost not even part of the original film. In the Amazon Original documentary "Val" (via Screenrant), which chronicles the actor's career, he revealed that he "felt the script was silly and disliked warmongering films." Still, the film helped launch Kilmer's career as an action star. He went on to play Jim Morrison in a biopic about "The Doors," acted in "True Romance," and starred as Doc Holliday in the classic western "Tombstone," before winning what is perhaps his most famous role: Batman, in "Batman Forever."

The actor has been public about his cancer diagnosis, which led to a tracheotomy; this meant his voice in "Top Gun: Maverick" was recreated with AI, according to the Independent. Much as he was hesitant about joining the cast of the original film, it turns out his co-star was a big part of why Kilmer returned to the role decades later. "We all wanted him, but Tom was really adamant that if he's going to make another 'Top Gun,' Val had to be in it," producer Jerry Bruckheimer told People.

Some films become iconic in part because of their soundtrack; the original "Top Gun" was one, featuring instant hits like "Take My Breath Away" and the ultra-campy "Danger Zone," the latter of which was sung by Kenny Loggins. Loggins was known for his soundtracks in the 80s, including for "Footloose;" fittingly, "Top Gun: Maverick" star Miles Teller first rose to fame in the 2011 remake of "Footloose," which featured Loggins' songs from the original film. Teller has since gone on to star in hits like "The Spectacular Now," "Divergent," and found-footage party movie "Project X." He received critical acclaim for his performance in "Whiplash," where he played an obsessive drummer opposite J.K. Simmons, who won an Oscar for his role.

In "Top Gun: Maverick," Teller plays "Rooster," mustachioed son of Goose, Anthony Edwards' character from the original. He told Men's Health that he was hesitant about taking the role, because he didn't want it to make him too famous. "There was a part of me that didn't know if I wanted to be a part of something that could bring that much attention and success to me," he said. Still, he told PTI (via the Hindustan Times), "When Tom Cruise handpicks you to be his co-star in a movie and to play the son of Goose, those are big shoes to fill. So I just felt like if Tom thinks I'm the right guy, then I think I'm the right guy too." 

In 2018, Netflix released "Set It Up," an instant-classic rom com about two assistants who try to set their bosses up on dates and wind up falling in love themselves. The film catapulted its male lead, Glen Powell, to internet-boyfriend status; Buzzfeed published "22 Glen Powell Instagrams That'll Make You Fall In Love," while Popsugar's roundup of pics of the hunky star was titled "Set US Up!" Powell told Decider that filming the movie's climactic kiss was more stressful than you'd think. "Every person had an opinion about what the end of a rom-com should look like, and what this kiss should look like, and I have never felt more insecure about the way I kiss than in that final scene," he said. 

Powell had previously starred in projects like Richard Linklater's "Everybody Wants Some!" and Ryan Murphy's "Scream Queens," where he played hilariously-named frat boy Chad Radwell.

In "Top Gun: Maverick," Powell plays Hangman, a pilot who Powell described to Entertainment Weekly as a bit of a goofball. "He would probably consider himself the greatest weapon the navy's ever produced," Powell said. "He's a cocky pilot who has a good time flying. In a very intense movie, he's having the best time of anybody."

Few television characters have caused as much online chatter in recent memory as Jay Ellis's Lawrence on Issa Rae's HBO comedy "Insecure." Fans loved to debate the long-term boyfriend of Rae's character, picking apart his motivations, his actions, and their consequences, such as his baby with someone who was very much not Issa. "Rewatching Insecure from the beginning and babyyy, I am triggered by Lawrence," one fan tweeted in 2022. Still, Ellis told GQ that his character's ups and downs were all part of the process. "It's supposed to be a little messy," he said. "You're supposed to stumble a little bit — that's how you get to the other end."

In "Top Gun: Maverick," Ellis plays a pilot nicknamed Payback. He had nothing but glowing things to say about his maverick co-star, recalling in GQ, "Tom was amazing. He was a mentor, he was a friend, he was a filmmaker, he was a producer, and he was a dude you wanted to grab a drink with." The role as an aviator was particularly fitting for Ellis, who told BlackTree TV that he first saw "Top Gun" as a child and "had lived on a bunch of different air force bases all of over the place." He has family with the same experiences as his character, recalling, "My dad was in the Air Force, my grandfathers were in the Air Force, and it was just around you, every single day." 

Raymond Lee has been working in television for a decade at this point. Guest spots on shows like "How I Met Your Mother" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" led to bigger roles in shows like HBO's "Here and Now," where he played Duc Bayer-Boatwright. In 2021, Lee starred as Sam on AMC's "Kevin Can F**k Himself," a meta-comedy about a long-suffering wife married to a typical sitcom slob. Lee told Show Snob that it was the perfect role, because he'd always loved sitcoms best growing up. "I can't even remember watching an actual drama. I just wasn't drawn to it," he said. "I thought the entire world should function as a sitcom would." 

While Lee had a role in 2022 as Officer Gomez in the Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum romantic comedy "The Lost City," "Top Gun: Maverick" marks his first stab at blockbuster stardom. He joined the cast of the long-delayed film all the way back in 2018, announcing on his Facebook that the news had been reported in the trades. "It's deadline official. I'm joining Top Gun: Maverick!" he wrote.

There's more good news from Deadline for Lee to share with his friends and fans; the outlet announced in March 2022 that he will lead the cast of NBC's "Quantum Leap" reboot, the sci-fi series that featured Scott Bakula as a time-hopping scientist. The new version of the story was ordered to series in May 2022.

Jake Picking's role in "Top Gun: Maverick" was largely kept under wraps ahead of the film's premiere, but he revealed in #legend Magazine that he went through the same flight training as most of the cast in order to play his character. "The way in which it was filmed has simply never been attempted before technologically, which should translate to an incredibly authentic viewing experience," he revealed proudly, adding that he received flight training on actual military bases. "The most challenging part was the first few flight lessons and taking off with no hands-on help," he admitted.

Picking's most recognizable role was as Hollywood icon Rock Hudson in Ryan Murphy's Netflix series "Hollywood," which imagined what classic Hollywood might have looked like if minorities were better represented on-screen decades earlier than our modern era. He also acted in Alison Brie's "Horse Girl," in which his character raps; he told Awards Watch that the musicality of the role came naturally to him. "It's just a part of some of the high schools in Boston and then some of the locker rooms, there was a lot of freestyle rapping," he remembered. "I was kind of that loner in high school; I would go back to my room and do Garage Band and listen to Kid Cudi stuff."

Like Jon Hamm, Ed Harris brings decades of experience to the new cast of "Top Gun: Maverick." The actor got his start on television back in the 70s, and by the following decade, he was headlining films like "Places in the Heart," "Creepshow," and "The Abyss." The four-time Oscar nominee is perhaps best recognizable for his roles in "Apollo 13" and "The Truman Show," as well as playing John Glenn in "The Right Stuff" and the Man in Black on "Westworld." He was nominated for an Emmy in the latter role, but he told Variety that he was trying not to put too much emphasis on the honor. "​​As the years go by, it's important to stay relaxed, focused, and not take things too seriously," he reflected. "You have to remember that eventually, none of this stuff's going to matter one way or another. So you want to do the things that you care about with the people you like, and do them to the best of your ability."

In "Top Gun: Maverick," Harris has a smaller role as a Rear Admiral; Forbes wrote that the actor "provide[s] grown-up interest" in the cast, considering how young most of his co-stars are. Still, Harris likely doesn't mind that he's one of the older stars in the cast; he told Vanity Fair in 2018, "[Acting is] a lifelong situation. It's a relentless focus and it's a never-ending journey, y'know, until you drop dead."