Top Gun Maverick: Val Kimer to reprise his role as pilot Iceman

Top Gun: Maverick will hit theatres on July 12 next year.

It seemed insane that anyone might make a sequel to 1986's Top Gun without including Val Kilmer's Iceman, but then again, it seemed insane that anyone might make a sequel to 1986's Top Gun after Tony Scott died, and look where that assumption got us. Now, it has been more than three decades since that high-flying epic film was released and the sequel is finally happening.

Val Kilmer will return to the skies as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the Tom Cruise-starring Top Gun sequel, according to a report by The Wrap.

Joseph Kosinski is set to direct Top Gun 2 from a scriupt by Peter Craig, Justin Marks and Eric Warren Singer.

On Tuesday, Kilmer had been spotted with Cruise on the set in San Diego, but nothing was set in stone.

Production has kicked off, as Tom Cruise has given fans a look at the first image from the movie.

Skydance CEO David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, producers of the original return to produce the sequel with Cruise. As automation and technology have advanced, pilots are becoming a thing of the past as unmanned drones are the hope of the future.

In any event, Kilmer's been in poor health over the last few years, so it's legitimately heartening to hear that Top Gun: Maverick may have found room for him and that he'd be up for playing the part. Although the title Top Gun: Maverick floated around briefly, the film is now without an official title. With Kenny Loggins on board for a new version of "Danger Zone", this movie just keeps getting better.