Jay Ellis and Tom Cruise

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Star Jay Ellis Reveals Cast’s Group Chat ‘On Fire’ After Oscar Noms

Top Gun: Maverick‘s six Oscar nominations have floored the hit film’s cast and crew, according to star Jay Ellis (AKA Lt. ‘Payback’ Fitch). “It’s wild, man. It’s wild,” Ellis recently told Entertainment Tonight. Ellis explained that he hoped the belated sequel would be a hit, but never dreamed it would be so critically acclaimed.

“We just wanted people to go see it [and] to work with Tom Cruise,” he explained. “We just wanted to work with Jerry Bruckheimer and Joe Kosinski.” The Insecure star seems to still be coming down from all the success the film has had. “This is a dream,” he added.

Since the movie debuted, the Top Gun: Maverick cast has retained their bond by having a constant thread with one another in a texting group. “Usually most of the text chain is all my cast mates realizing and really commenting on how much I’ve enriched their lives and how much they love me and I’ve made them better people,” Ellis quipped.

“But every once in a while, some good news will come through, like the Oscar nominations,” Ellis explained. “Our chat is on fire all the time.” The upcoming 95th Academy Awards have recognized Top Gun: Maverick with nominations in the categories of Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Original Song, Visual Effects, and Sound.

Ellis weighs in on a possible ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ follow-up

All of this success had left a lot of fans wondering when there will be a follow-up film to the hit sequel. “I haven’t heard about it, so if you know something, tell me,” Ellis told People Magazine in October. “No, I don’t think there will be. What do I know? Maybe there will be. Maybe there will.”

“I mean, we would all love to work together. We’d love to be with Tom [Cruise] again. We’d love to be in the back F18s again,” he continued. “So if we’re lucky enough to do it again, I’m sure every single one of us would be there.” Top Gun: Maverick was all but finished back in 2019, but was delayed due to COVID-19. Tom Cruise insisted the film get a theatrical release rather than going straight to streaming platforms. The gamble certainly paid off between the box office and awards. 

Ellis is one of the several cast additions in Top Gun: Maverick. His character joins the new class of pilots learning from Tom Cruise’s Maverick. He’s not an overnight success, though. Ellis has appeared in films and on television since 2005. He’s made appearances in high-profile tv shows like Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, and How I Met Your Mother. His breakout role was as Lawerence on the acclaimed HBO series, Insecure. Ellis won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy in 2018 for his role in the series.