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National Geographic is making a documentary of the actual pilots-in-training who inspired the Top Gun story, according to CBR.
The release of Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, 36 years after the original came out, has piqued the franchise’s interest in the real-life U.S. Navy Naval Aviators undergoing the TOPGUN training.
What is TOPGUN?
TOPGUN is the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, or the Navy Fighter Weapons School, according to the U.S. Navy. Some program graduates stay at TOPGUN as instructors, training the next batch of pilots. Others are assigned to different weapons school, providing instruction to the rest of the fleet.
Top Gun: The Next Generation
National Geographic will focus on the pilots training to fly “the world’s most advanced jets – the F-35C Lightning II. The current working title of the docuseries is Top Gun: The Next Generation.
The executive producers of the documentary said in a statement, “The intimate access we have gained to the characters and the emotional character-led story arcs that run through the series will paint a vivid, compelling narrative around the young men and women embarking on this highly stressful process.”
While the films focused on the death-defying stunts, the documentary is said to go “beyond the noise and spectacle of fighter jets to tell the tense, nuanced and poignant human stories behind the public-facing bravado. This is a unique project and we are thrilled to be bringing it to viewers.”
National Geographic will announce Top Gun: The Next Generation‘s premiere date later.
