Why the ‘Top Gun’ sequel intentionally left out Kelly McGillis, Meg Ryan
premieres later this month, though two major female leads from the original story won’t be seen: Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan.McGillis played Charlie Blackwood, a flight instructor and the object of Maverick’s affection. Ryan, meanwhile, portrayed the wife of Goose Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), Maverick’s best friend and co-pilot who dies on the job.Joseph Kosinski, who directed the sequel, confessed to Insider that he had no intention of ever bringing the two women back for “Maverick.”“Those weren’t stories that we were throwing around,” Kosinski said.He also explained that there were already too many narratives occurring in the new film, including the return of Val Kilmer as Iceman Kazansky, and Maverick training Goose’s son, Rooster (Miles Teller).The sequel focuses on Maverick’s Navy pilot career 30 years after the first film, and introduces a slew of hopeful recruits for the veteran to train.McGillis, now 64, previously discussed not being asked to join the second flick back in 2019.