Top Gun first hit theaters all the way back in 1986 and starred Tom Cruise as a cocky

fighter pilot who trains in an elite military program.

Now there's finally a sequel.

Tom Cruise returns to train a new generation of pilots.

I'm Aisha Harris.

And I'm Stephen Thompson.

Today we are talking about Top Gun Maverick on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

Here with Aisha and me is Morning Edition Producer Mark River is welcome back Mark.

Thank you for having me on this most important episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour.

And also here is Daisy Rosario.

She's a podcast producer and storyteller you may have heard on the Moth Radio Hour

Welcome Back Daisy.

Hey thanks for having me.

Always a pleasure.

So in case you haven't seen the original Top Gun there is one 36 year old spoiler you

need to know.

In that film Tom Cruise plays hot shot Navy pilot Pete Maverick Mitchell who flies a training

mission in which his friend Goose is killed leaving behind a wife and young son.

In Top Gun Maverick we pick up the story decades later.

Maverick is working as a test pilot but he hasn't risen far up the military ranks partially

because of his hot shot ways and partially because he still wants to fly.

Soon he's enlisted to train a new batch of young pilots for a seemingly impossible, extremely

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