Jennifer Connelly joins Tom Cruise's 'Top Gun: Maverick'

"Oblivion" helmer Joe Kosinski is directing the film, a sequel to the 1986 original.

This latest project will be set in a world of drone technology and will explore the end of the era of dogfighting, with Cruise portraying a flight instructor.

LOS ANGELES: Actress Jennifer Connelly is joining Tom Cruise in "Top Gun: Maverick".

"Oblivion" helmer Joe Kosinski is directing the film, a sequel to the 1986 original. Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the first film with the late Don Simpson, will produce the film with Cruise and Skydance CEO David Ellison, reports variety.com.

This latest project will be set in a world of drone technology and will explore the end of the era of dogfighting, with Cruise portraying a flight instructor.

In late May, Cruise posted a photo of himself in front of what appeared to be a Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Variety reported on July 3 that "Only the Brave" star Miles Teller had been tapped to play the son of the Goose character and Maverick's new protege. Goose was played by Anthony Edwards as the co-pilot to Cruise's Maverick character in the original.

Val Kilmer will reprise his role as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the sequel, which is set to be released on July 12, 2019.

Kilmer had previously hinted in a Facebook post that he was offered a chance to star in the sequel.

However, Kilmer later updated his Facebook post, saying he "jumped the topgun" in making the announcement.

"This is a long way off so calm down. This has been talked about for a long long time and being offered a role is very different from doing a role. I jumped the gun with my post. I jumped the topgun" An innocent mistake. It was just such a wonderful phone call with my agent" Kilmer had said.

The film, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Jerry Bruckheimer Films and David Ellison for Skydance, and is expected to release in July 2019.