While Tom Cruise has become well-known for playing, well, a version of himself for much of the time, one of the actor’s more transformative roles, Tropic Thunder’s Les Grossman, remains a fan favorite. And this has not been missed by Cruise himself, who said while speaking with Comicbook.com at the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick, that he would be open to reprising the role … once he has wrapped up some of his major franchises, of course.

Introduced in the 2008 action-comedy Tropic Thunder, Les Grossman is a foul-mouthed, exaggerated parody of Hollywood studio executives. Demonstrating his penchant for dancing and his sweary insults to hilarious effect, Tom Cruise hides his recognizable looks under a balding head, glasses and a stubbled beard, and quite clearly stands out as one of the movie’s highlights.

“I don’t know. I did Les Grossman for the MTV Awards … We’ll have to see, that could be fun. I really don’t know, at this moment. I’m just enjoying this night, I gotta finish [the Mission: Impossible sequels], you know what I mean? I’m enjoying this night, I’m gonna put all my Mission stuff away for a moment to just breathe tonight.”

Tom Cruise has reprised the role once already for the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, but this is the last that audiences have seen of him. Despite some criticisms of the character, the studio had planned to launch Grossman into his own spinoff. The idea was for the project to center on Grossman, with a script written by Michael Bacall, but nothing has been revealed about the state of the spinoff since 2012.

Once Tom Cruise has retired the character of Ethan Hunt with both Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, could the actor be persuaded to bring Les Grossman back for more?

Tom Cruise Will Next Reprise the Role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick

     Paramount Pictures

Before possibly suiting up as Les Grossman again, Tom Cruise will first slide back into the cockpit of a fighter jet in the upcoming sequel Top Gun: Maverick. Picking up decades after the first Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick reintroduces test pilot Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who has purposely dodged an advancement in rank after thirty years of service.

One day, Maverick is called to be put in charge of training a group of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission under the orders of his fellow naval aviator friend and former rival, Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, who is the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Among them is Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s late best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer alongside Tom Cruise. The sequel premiered at the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas, and has been met with much praise from early reactions.

Top Gun: Maverick is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on May 27, 2022, by Paramount Pictures.