Top Gun 3 storyline 'in the bag'

Top Gun 3 has taken a step closer to production.

In a recent conversation on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Christopher McQuarrie, who co-wrote and produced Top Gun: Maverick, said he already has the story nailed down for the third film in the series.

When asked if Top Gun 3 was "harder to crack" than Top Gun: Maverick, McQuarrie revealed, "No, it's already in the bag."

"It wasn't hard," McQuarrie continued.

"I thought it would be, and that's a good place to go from as you walk into the room going, 'Come on, what are we going to do?' And (screenwriter) Ehren Kruger pitched something and I went, 'Mm, actually,' and we had one conversation about it, and the framework is there. So, no, it's not hard to crack. The truth of the matter is, none of these are hard to crack."

The news comes after Top Gun star Tom Cruise teased the threequel at the recent Cannes Film Festival. Cruise shared that he was actively working on not only Top Gun 3, but also a sequel to his 1990 racing thriller, Days of Thunder.

"Yeah, we're thinking and talking about many different stories and what could we do and what's possible," Cruise shared.