Skip to main content
Join Now

'Top Gun: Maverick' writer, frequent Tom Cruise collaborator gives major update on potential 'Days of Thunder' sequel

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones05/29/25brianjones_93
Tom Cruise Days of Thunder
Mar 27, 2011; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Film actor Tom Cruise attends the NBA game between the New Orleans Hornets and the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Christopher McQuarrie, a filmmaker who frequently collaborates with Tom Cruise, gave a big update on the potential Days of Thunder sequel. While speaking with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, McQuarrie said he has an idea of what Cole Trickle is doing over 30 years after the first move was released.

“Totally know what the premise of the movie would be,” McQuarrie said. “In five seconds I knew what the premise would be. I looked at the response to Top Gun: Maverick and immediately turned to Tom and said, ‘Days of Thunder.’

McQuarrie then said he wouldn’t approach a Days of Thunder sequel like Top Gun: Maverick. “It has a different cultural impact than that movie,” he stated. “All those things go into figuring out how to make the story.”

Tom Cruise says he’s ‘discussing Days of Thunder’ sequel

McQuarrie’s comments come shortly after Tom Cruise discussed a possible Days of Thunder sequel on the Today Show Australia. “Yeah, we’re thinking and talking about many different stories and what could we do and what’s possible,” Cruise said, per Variety. “It took me 35 years to figure out Top Gun: Maverick, so all of these things we’re working on, we’re discussing Days of Thunder and Top Gun: Maverick.”

He continued, “There’s numerous other films that we’re actively working on right now. I’m always shooting a film, prepping a film, posting a film. I just finished a film with Alejandro Iñárritu too, who did The Revenant, and we’ll be coming out with that. That was an extraordinary experience and [Christopher McQuarrie] and I are always working on several different films.”

The talks of Days of Thunder 2 began in November. The first film was released on June 27, 1990, and made $157.9 million at the box office. Cruise played Cole Trickle, a young NASCAR driver who’s looking to be the top driver in the Cup Series.

Days of Thunder also starred Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Nicole Kidman and Cary Elwes. The film also features appearances from NASCAR legends Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace and Neil Bonnett.

McQuarrie, and worked with Cruise multiple times over the years. He has directed the last four Mission Impossible films, wrote Top Gun: Maverick directed Jack Reacher, produced Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and wrote, Edge of Tomorrow. McQuarrie won an Academy Award in 1995 for Best Original Screenplay for the film The Usual Suspects.