Watch Tom Cruise Take a Thrill Ride in New Trailer for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

He’s still got the need for speed.

Here’s a good reminder the New Year is just around the corner: the long-awaited follow-up to Top Gun will be in theaters in just six months. With this new trailer (and new poster, see below) for Tom Cruise‘s return to the pilot’s seat in Top Gun: Maverick, anticipation for the thrill ride we know is in store will likely get dialed up to 11.

There are some mysteries in Maverick, though—like why is Pete Mitchell still a captain functioning as a mentor and teacher to younger pilots? As we saw in the first trailer via Ed Harris’s grim-faced commanding officer, many in Mitchell’s position would’ve retired or ascended to higher ranks.

Well, there is a reason they call him “Maverick.” 

Here’s a refresher on the story, per Paramount Pictures:

After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”

Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.

What’s clear in one central scene is that much like Tom Cruise himself, Maverick’s attitude and issues with authority haven’t really changed. 

He tells commanding officers, “I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting an invitation back,” to which one officer replies with a wry smile, “They’re called orders, Maverick.” 

Top Gun: Maverick also stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, and Ed Harris and was directed by Joseph Kosinski.

Get ready to head to the Danger Zone again when Maverick roars into theaters on June 26, 2020.