The sequel to the blockbuster hit Top Gun was a movie that was literally decades in the making. Over the course of that time, many writers tried their hand at writing a movie that would become Top Gun 2. In the end, five different people have story and screenplay credits on Top Gun: Maverick, but now we know which one of them is responsible for creating the character of Goose’s son, as played by Miles Teller.
Peter Craig had been involved in Maverick‘s story from early on, and he received an Oscar nomination for the Top Gun: Maverick screenplay, alongside the four other men who received credits for the final script. Speaking with THR, Craig was very complimentary of what he says was a collaborative process as the team worked together to craft the final film. However, he takes credit for the film’s core, as he apparently pitched the idea of Goose’s son to Tom Cruise. Craig said…
That was an interesting process because all of us writers got to be friends. A lot of us talked and communicated the whole way through, and it had a consistent spine in Cruise and Joe [Kosinski] and [Christopher] McQuarrie. McQuarrie is listed as the last writer, but that’s really because he was the circulatory system for all of us. So there were interesting things everybody was taking from each other, and Goose’s son was my original pitch to Tom, which he loved. I can’t underestimate how involved Tom is and how much he understands audience expectations and knows exactly how long to linger on something and how fast to move on to the next thing.
While Top Gun: Maverick’s blockbuster status was thanks to its impressive practical flying sequences, the movie’s heart came from the character conflict between Tom Cruise’s Maverick and Miles Teller’s Rooster. It’s an emotional journey for both characters that carries the rest of the story.
Peter Craig may take credit for the idea, but he’s also giving full credit to both Tom Cruise and co-writer Christopher McQuarrie, who he indicates acted as as managers of a sort for the team. Because of strong leadership, the writing team was able to work together easily putting together a strong story. Not everybody who works on a script ends up getting their name in the credits, and Peter Craig mentions that others deserve at least some credit for helping make Top Gun: Mavertick the success that it was. Craig continued…
So there was a whole team of people that were all pulling in exactly the same direction, and that came from how good the leadership was from top to bottom. It was a piece of perfect machinery. Every cog fit into each other perfectly at exactly the right moment, and I think there’s a dozen people that are justified in taking some credit for it.
A lot of people may deserve some credit, but Peter Craig clearly deserves a lot of credit if Goose’s son was his idea. It’s a move that ties the two films together in a way that makes sense, and that probably creates a connection that will be valuable in whatever Top Gun 3 turns out to be.