A Top Gun sequel is actually happening, and Oblivion’s Joseph Kosinski might direct

It looks like Tom Cruise wasn’t kidding when he revealed that Top Gun 2 was going to start filming “probably in the next year,” as Variety is now reporting that Joseph Kosinski is already the front-runner to direct the film. Considering that we didn’t know if the movie was actually happening until Cruise dropped his seemingly optimistic announcement, this is a pretty big leap forward. Paramount, the studio that controls Top Gun, hasn’t made any announcements about the project, but “insiders” seem confident that it’s really happening now.

As for Kosinski, he previously directed Cruise in the sci-fi film Oblivion. While largely removed from Tom Gun on the surface, Oblivion did feature Cruise zipping around in a high-tech flying machine at the behest of a mysterious superior officer, which isn’t that different from how the Navy works these days. Nothing in Oblivion had the panache of the original Top Gun‘s volleyball scene, but maybe Kosinski has picked up some new tricks in the four years since that movie came out.