Kelly McGillis Isn't The Only Star Who Wasn't Asked To Return For The Top Gun Sequel

In 2022, Tom Cruise reprised his iconic role as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in "Top Gun: Maverick," the long-awaited sequel to the hit 1986 action-drama. "Maverick" also featured the return of the since dearly departed Val Kilmer as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky. That was about it as far as major returns go, with the bulk of the sequel's cast being made up of series newcomers like Glen Powell and Miles Teller. And while that certainly makes sense, given the film's central theme of generational conflict, one omission that felt particularly glaring was '80s icon Kelly McGillis as Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood, given that the original ends with her and Maverick seemingly preparing to continue their swoon-worthy romance. 

As it turns out, Charlie's onscreen return was never on the table. McGillis confirmed in 2019 that she wasn't even asked to come back for "Maverick" (not that the former actor was particularly offended). That said, McGillis actually wasn't the only original "Top Gun" star who didn't get so much as a phone call. During a 2022 interview with Business Insider, "Maverick" director Joseph Kosinski confirmed that in addition to McGillis' Charlie, Meg Ryan's Carole Bradshaw also wasn't considered for a big return in the "Top Gun" sequel. "Those weren't stories that we were throwing around," Kosinski clarified. In the original, Ryan plays Carole Bradshaw, wife of Anthony Edwards' ill-fated Nick "Goose" Bradshaw. 

Of course, the Bradshaws' legacy looms large over "Top Gun: Maverick," which co-stars Teller as Goose and Carole's son, Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw. Save for some archival footage from the original movie, however, Carole herself is nowhere to be seen. "I didn't want every storyline to always be looking backwards," Kosinski explained of his approach to the highly-anticipated sequel. "It was important to introduce some new characters."

To be fair to director Joseph Kosinski and the rest of the team behind "Top Gun: Maverick," Kelly McGillis has been semi-retired from Hollywood for some time, while you don't hear from Meg Ryan much anymore either, due to her own hiatus from acting around the time of the sequel's production. So, even if the studio had reached out about reprising her role as Carole Bradshaw, it's unclear if she actually would have gone for it. After appearing in 2015's "Ithaca," which Ryan also directed, the "Sleepless in Seattle" star took what proved to be an eight-year break from acting. She eventually returned to screens in the November 2023 film "What Happens Later," which the rom-com icon wrote and directed. 

Notably, while "Top Gun: Maverick" was released in 2022, the film was actually shot from May 2018 to April 2019 — more or less smack-dab in the middle of Ryan's Hollywood sabbatical. In fact, the long-gestating sequel was originally supposed to come out in July 2019 before being delayed multiple times. As for why she may not even have accepted a role in "Maverick" had she got the call, Ryan opened up about her decision to take a step back in the first place during an October 2023 interview with People. 

"I took a giant break because I felt like there's just so many other parts of my experience as a human being I wanted to develop," she noted. "It's nice to think of it as a job and not a lifestyle. And that is a great way of navigating it for me." The "You've Got Mail" star has not publicly addressed her non-reprisal as Carole at the time of writing.