“High Gun: Maverick” is filled with nostalgia and callbacks to the unique 1986 film, together with some legacy characters and acquainted scenes. One factor viewers who’re streaming the film forward of the Oscars have observed has modified, nevertheless, is who performs the love curiosity to Tom Cruise‘s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. The sequel — which was awarded greatest movie by the Nationwide Board of Overview — sees Maverick, now a long time into his profession, wooing a bar proprietor (and daughter of an admiral) named Penny Benjamin. This is what to learn about Maverick’s love curiosity forward of the 2023 Academy Awards, the place “High Gun: Maverick” is nominated in six classes, together with greatest image.

Is Penny Benjamin within the Authentic “High Gun”?

Penny, performed by Jennifer Connelly, just isn’t bodily within the first “High Gun” film, however she does exist in it, although solely talked about in passing. She is rarely really seen on display screen.

In a single scene, Maverick’s previous exploits are stated to incorporate “a historical past of high-speed passes over 5 air-control towers and one admiral’s daughter,” and Maverick’s BFF Goose mutters Penny’s identify beneath his breath — making her the “admiral’s daughter” in query. That is later confirmed when Goose’s spouse, Carole, teases Maverick about his romantic historical past, telling her that Goose “instructed me all in regards to the time you went ballistic with Penny Benjamin.”

Whereas she by no means seems in particular person within the first “High Gun,” Penny turns into a significant character within the sequel. Now performed by Connelly, Penny owns a bar that’s the downtime vacation spot of alternative for the TOPGUN crew. She’s lower than thrilled when Maverick exhibits up once more, and their dialogue undoubtedly implies that they’ve had a little bit of an on-and-off romance all through the years between the 2 motion pictures.

“It began the primary time after they have been fairly younger. And also you get the sense that they type of come collectively, they’ve this type of fiery romance, after which it falls aside,” Connelly described in an interview with FilmIsNow. “However then they preserve coming again to one another.”

Why Is not Kelly McGillis’s Charlie Blackwood in “High Gun: Maverick”?

Within the first “High Gun,” Maverick’s love curiosity is Charlie Blackwood, an astrophysicist who crosses paths with him on the TOPGUN academy. Different solid members from the authentic “High Gun” returned for “High Gun: Maverick,” like Val Kilmer, so what’s behind this love-interest switcheroo?

Kelly McGillis performed Charlie in “High Gun,” however when the sequel got here round, in keeping with her, she wasn’t even requested to be a part of the film.

“They didn’t [invite me back], and nor do I believe they might ever,” McGillis stated again in 2019, when the primary trailer for “High Gun: Maverick” dropped and he or she was conspicuously absent. “I am previous and I am fats and I look age-appropriate for what my age is, and that isn’t what that complete scene is about,” she stated. McGillis, who’s 64 years previous, is nearly precisely 5 years older than 59-year-old Cruise; Connelly is 51. McGillis had nothing however constructive issues to say about Connelly becoming a member of the solid, nevertheless, saying she’s “so glad [Connelly] acquired that chance.”

In distinction, director Joseph Kosinski stated that bringing again Charlie merely wasn’t according to the story they have been trying to inform within the sequel. “I did not need each storyline to at all times be trying backwards,” Kosinski instructed Insider. “It was essential to introduce some new characters.” This meant excluding some characters from the unique, together with McGillis as Charlie and Meg Ryan as Carole Bradshaw.