‘Mission Impossible 7’ Director Planned a Very Ominous Intro Arc For Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Before It Was Scrapped

Tom Cruise’s time playing the role of Pete Mitchell in the Top Gun film series has certainly been iconic. When the first part was released in 1986, it was a massive success amongst audiences and helped lay the foundations for the actor to become the Hollywood legend that he is today. The sequel to this was not any less significant, being even more successful than its predecessor, despite being released more than twenty years after the first part.

Top Gun: Maverick was so loved that it earned Cruise a nomination for an Academy Award, in the category of Best Motion Picture of the Year. This, along with the critical acclaim that it received, would cause many to consider it to be perfect. However, it would seem that the writer of the film’s script, Christopher McQuarrie, had a different opening sequence in mind. 

The Original Script of Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick Had A Different Opening

Top Gun: Maverick opens with a sequence of the activities of a flight deck, followed by shots of Tom Cruise as Pete Mitchell, catching up the audience on what he had been doing since the last time they saw him. Joseph Kosinski, the director of this film, recently gave an interview with Josh Horowitz on Watch-along, where he revealed that this was not how the original opening of the film went.

The script of the film was written by Christopher McQuarrie, who is known for primarily directing the Mission: Impossible films. 

“There was a draft that Christopher McQuarrie had, which I loved.” He went on, “After we see that opening sequence on the deck, we cut below and we see Maverick in that tight close up, that you see in the third act, saying ‘Talk to me goose’ and we just feel the weight of soem enormous decision on him. And then we flashback and start our story of how to get to that point. It was a great idea, I loved it, but ultimately, as we were putting the film together, it felt like it was unnecessary”

Kosinski revealed that the first version of the script opened with one of the most high-pressure and important scenes in the film; when Mitchell is flying the Dark Star. Originally, the film was supposed to open with a part of this sequence in the future and end the scene in a way that would be left to the audience’s interpretation.

While the director loved this idea and stuck with executing it for the majority of production, in the end, the editing of the film was not done like this. He revealed his reason for this, stating that it did not make sense in the final version of the film.

The Original Script Would Have Debunked The Biggest Theory About Pete Mitchell

One of the most controversial and common theory that fans hold and like to discuss about this film is surrounding the scene of Pete Mitchell flying the Dark Star. Many believe that the events of this sequence led to the death of the Tom Cruise character, and the rest of the film exists in his dreams as he passes away.

Joseph Kosinski also spoke on this theory, stating that a sequence in the original version of the script had a scene that would have completely debunked this theory.

“You know, actually, the original version of the script. We actually follow Maverick in his free-fall back to Earth, which would have, I guess, debunked that theory. It was a pretty spectacular sequence, imagining what it’s like to re-entre from space in your space suit.”

He stated that in the Christopher McQuarrie script, a scene showed Mitchell’s character falling from the sky, following him through this horrifying experience. He also added that this sequence would have been beautiful to watch, however, it did not make its way into the movie.