Did you ever feel the need for a Top Gun sequel?

That’s right, folks: Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is back in the cockpit once again.

Tom Cruise shared a photo from on his Instagram account which shows him decked out in full aviation gear on the set of Top Gun: Maverick, the follow-up to the 1986 film, Top Gun, via a report by PEOPLE.

Take a gander at Cruise in all his dramatic, 55-year-old-action-movie-star glory:

And the same on Twitter:

Cruise is even rocking Maverick’s iconic aviators as he’s gazing across the tarmac.

Are you deep in the nostalgic feels yet?

PEOPLE reports:

Top Gun: Maverick is being helmed by filmmaker Joseph Kosinski, Cruise’s director on the 2013 sci-fi drama Oblivion …

Not much is known about the plot for the sequel, written by Eric Warren Singer (Only the Brave), Peter Craig (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay) and Justin Marks (The Jungle Book).

According to Variety, Cruise’s character will now be an instructor, with the film exploring “a world of drone technology, fifth-generation fighters and the end of the era of dog-fighting.”

Sounds promising. And epic.

And it better be. After all, the sequel – which is set for a release in the US on July 12 in 2019 –  has been going through development hell since 2010, reports The Guardian:

The original film’s director, Tony Scott, was approached about reviving Top Gun all the way back in 2010, and sounded enthusiastic about reinventing it.

“This world fascinated me, because it’s so different from what it was originally,” he said at the time. “But I don’t want to do a remake … I want to do a new movie.”

But those plans ended in tragedy when Scott took his own life in 2012. However, Top Gun producer Jerry Bruckheimer remained devoted to the project.

“For 30 years we’ve been trying to make a sequel and we’re not going to stop,” he said in 2014. As he put it in another interview, “Losing Tony slowed us down, but hopefully, we can pick up speed again.”

No pun intended, huh, Bruckheimer?

Right now it’s unclear who’s going to join Cruise for the plane ride, but fans are hoping to “see more of Kelly McGillis as Charlotte Blackwood and Val Kilmer back playing Tom “Iceman” Kazansky.”

But at the end of the day, it’s all about Cruise, said producer David Ellison:

There is an amazing role for Maverick in the movie and there is no Top Gun without Maverick, and it is going to be Maverick playing Maverick.

Right. The sequel title pretty much gives off that vibe.

And as long as he’s getting paid top dollar, Cruise will feel the need to do more sequels (sixth Mission: Impossible movie, anyone?).

[sources:people&telegraph]