It’s definitely a long time coming.
This past weekend, Tom Cruise announced that Days of Thunder 2 is officially in production and coming in 2028, and he will reprise his role as NASCAR driver Cole Trickle. Anne Hathaway will co-star, playing a team owner and engineer.
They shared the news via a post on Instagram, as they banter back and forth about how to reveal it, before eventually getting out of the way and revealing a green race car with the title and release year on it. Of course, Hathaway is visibly pregnant, and she joked that she had to have her baby before they started filming but she would be ready soon and they’re looking forward to it:
The Hollywood Reporter, previously reported that a Days of Thunder sequel had been green lit, and will be directed by Jonathan Levine, with Tom Cruise once again set to star in the movie, as he did the original.
The original Days of Thunder was directed by Tony Scott and starred Cruise, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Michael Rooker and Cary Elwes. It was released in 1990 and put Nicole Kidman in the spotlight in a huge way, and it was her first time in a movie with Cruise.
Levine and Paramount are currently in negotiations for the contract, and while most of the further details are still very much under wraps, they did tell HR that the script is being written by Will Staples, and Cruise will once again star in it. Of course, he played hotshot NASCAR driver Cole Trickle in the original, and is reprising his role now some 36 years later.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he’s been involved some in helping them develop the storyline and make sure it’s all authentic to the script, and during a recent interview with Pat McAfee, Cruise says he’s been “thinking about Cole Trickle for a long time,” and his love for racing runs deep.
He grew up racing on country backroads, and he used his Top Gun blueprint from that beloved sequel to get this Days Of Thunder 2 movie rolling:
“I’ve been thinking about Cole Trickle for a long time. I grew up just taking cars in the back streets, before I had my license, and racing country roads. Looking at dirt tracks, and I love NASCAR, and I love racing, and airplanes, and motorcycles.
We did ‘Top Gun,’ and I took the story to Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, Tony Scott came on. After the first one. Also I’ve just been thinking about, how can I do it, how can I seat the audience into another journey with this character?”
Pat pointed out that sequels usually suck, which I tend to agree with, but because of how good the second Top Gun was, he has hope for this sequel. Cruise says he’s even used some of his “aerobatics” training to get a feel for the cinematography and how it’s all going to look.
It’s been over 35 years since the first one, so obviously a lot has changed in terms of the movie technology since then, so I’m sure from that aspect, it will be a completely different experience.
Cruise also talked about the cultural aspect of the film, saying how much he loves it and that will be a big part of it too
“We’re going for it. I feel like we really got something. Annie is enormously talented, she’s gonna be owner and engineer. I spent years training in aerobatics, from helicopters to jets to airplanes, and studying aerial photography and creating aerial photography.
We’re creating stories like, what can I tell with the motion. Those are things that I’m looking at with NASCAR with these cars. I love the culture. It’s a real immersive cultural story that’s gonna have racing, going to be creating knowledge as we go along.”
The storyline and other actors and characters are still-to-be-revealed, but it sounds like a ton of effort is going into this movie, and they’re talking to the right people about the culture and sports and what makes it special.
It’s slated for release sometime in 2028:
