Val Kilmer Officially Announces Return To Big Screen In Top Gun Sequel

While reports have been making the rounds online stating that Val Kilmer would return to theaters in the form of Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, it wasn’t officially acknowledged by the man himself.

Today, that has finally changed after Val Kilmer took to Facebook, laying to rest any doubt about speculations on whether or not he was going to appear in the 2019 action summer sequel to Top Gun.

Currently titled Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise is also set to reprise his role from the original as well. At this time no other specific casting information has been announced. The movie release has been scheduled for July 12, 2019.

Kilmer’s Facebook message was slightly misspelled, though may have just been an expression of the actor’s excitement to return to the Top Gun franchise, especially considering it has been more than 30 years since the original debuted in theaters.

“Fanfare to follow: but I’m officially in the sequel to TOPGUN. I so looking forward to working with Tom, Joe and Jerry, all such unique pros.”

Val Kilmer has been out of the limelight for some time after having fought a brave battle with throat cancer. He recently appeared on a podcast hosted by Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols. In the episode, Kilmer discussed his struggles with cancer and struggled with his voice. Although the actor was difficult to understand at times, Jones made remarks to suggest that Kilmer’s voice had improved from how it initially sounded after the successful throat cancer surgery.

Kilmer went through significant therapy to get his voice back to normal. Originally he’d denied even having cancer in the first place.

People also reported on the Kilmer story recently and remarked on how the actor through denying rumors often appeared in public wearing scarves or bandannas around his neck in an effort to hide evidence of such an illness or any procedures involved.

Top Gun first premiered in theaters in December of 1986, grossing more than $356 million at the worldwide box office. The movie was a massive hit among fans and solidified the careers of a young Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise as major Hollywood stars.

Both Cruise and Kilmer would remain prominent figures on the movie scene throughout most of the ’90s.

Although a huge success with fans, Top Gun didn’t fare well with critics. To date, the movie only carries a 54 percent on Rotten Tomatoes according to aggregate critical scores. Audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes tell a much different story, sitting at 83 percent.