'Top Gun: Maverick' Director Explains Why Meg Ryan, Kelly McGillis Not In Sequel

"Top Gun: Maverick" director Joseph Kosinski has revealed why Meg Ryan and Kelly McGillis, who were members of the original movie's cast, won't appear in the highly anticipated sequel.

The director said he wanted the story to move forward rather than backward, so he introduced new characters in the movie instead of bringing back old ones.

"Those weren't stories that we were throwing around," the 48-year-old director told Insider in an interview that came out Tuesday. "I didn't want every storyline to always be looking backwards. It was important to introduce some new characters."

The director went on to explain how he introduced the character Penny Benjamin, played by Jennifer Connelly, in the sequel. Apparently, Penny's name was mentioned in the first movie as "the Admiral's daughter." However, no face was shown at the time.

"Penny Benjamin, a character we have heard mentioned but never seen before," he said. "That was an amazing opportunity to bring Jennifer Connelly's character into this film."

It can be recalled that McGillis, who portrayed the love interest of Tom Cruise in the first installment, previously revealed why she did not reprise her character in the sequel. "I'm old, and I'm fat, and I look age-appropriate for what my age is," the 64-year-old actress said in a 2019 interview with Entertainment Tonight. "And that is not what that whole scene is about."

As for Ryan, who played Carole Bradshaw in the first film, he has not made any comments on why she is not appearing in the sequel.

"Top Gun: Maverick" tells the story of Maverick who teaches a batch of new pilots to go on a deadly mission that needs an ultimate sacrifice. The movie is hitting theaters on May 24.

Cruise dropped the trailer of the sequel via Twitter last month.