Cole Trickle is putting on the Nomex and strapping into the bucket seat yet again. The rookie stock car driver, played by Tom Cruise in 1990’s Days of Thunder, will return to the silver screen once again – hopefully behind the wheel of a Chevy Camaro – although after nearly four decades, he’s not the upstart he used to be. Cruise will reprise his role in a sequel to the racing flick, which will also star Anne Hathaway upon its release in summer 2028, and fans of the original are very excited.
But why did it take 36 years for the follow-up to get the green light, and why do we have to wait two more to see the finished product?
The Movie Will Have At Least One Familiar Face
Cruise and Hathaway took to social media to announce the movie, appearing alongside one another on a pit lane next to a custom-wrapped stock car in the same colors as Trickle’s Mello Yello–sponsored Chevrolet Lumina. In the Instagram Reel, Cruise joked with Hathaway that they had to make it happen now that he’d announced the timing of its release.
So far, only two of the movie’s cast members have been revealed. Cruise will reprise his role as Trickle, who in the 1990 original was a headstrong and arrogant rookie, although after nearly four decades, we presume he’ll be wiser and more measured. Appearing alongside the Mission: Impossible star will be Anne Hathaway, who will portray a team owner and engineer whose relationship to Cole is as yet unknown. Nicole Kidman, who played Cruise’s romantic interest in the first Days of Thunder, is conspicuously absent; the two stars married in 1990 and divorced in 2001, and they haven’t appeared in a film together since then.
Randy Quaid, who played team owner and recruiter Tim Daland in the original, took to social media to deride the decision to cast Hathaway, urging Cruise to recruit Kidman for the franchise follow-up. We presume he will not appear in the sequel given his politically charged and misogynistic criticism of Hathaway, calling her “not sexy,” “leftist,” and “woke,” traits that he said put her in contention with the film’s “NASCAR audience who are MAGA.”
nascar motorsport speed racingNASCAR / Facebook
Robert Duvall, who played a retired crew chief lured back into the pit lane to mentor Trickle, died in February. In comments on social media, fans of Days of Thunder have expressed that they hope for a tribute to the veteran actor.
Why Do We Have To Wait So Long For The New Movie?
nascar motorsport speed racingNASCAR / Facebook
As the two actors pointed out in the Instagram post, Hathaway is currently pregnant with her third child, so although development of the Days of Thunder sequel is under way, filming likely won’t start until she’s able to return to work following the pregnancy. We doubt that will be much before next summer, giving the actors and crew about 12 months of lead time before the planned June 2, 2028, release.
The story is also still being finalized, although Jonathan Levine is on tap to direct, and we hope to see his unusual sense of humor (as seen in previous films like Warm Bodies and Long Shot) come through in the sequel. This is neither Levine’s first sports film nor his first 1980s reboot; he will direct Mr Irrelevant, a film about the 1983 NFL final draft pick John Tuggle, and an upcoming sequel to Dirty Dancing.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Comparisons between the Days of Thunder followup and F1: The Movie are inescapable. It’s not clear how much involvement NASCAR will have with the new film, but considering the Formula 1 race series was very closely tied to its Hollywood equivalent (including actual driver cameos and filming during Grand Prix weekends), we assume the same will be the true of the stock car sanctioning body. Days of Thunder will also test whether Cruise’s star power can helm yet another nostalgia remake; the actor’s successfully revamped Top Gun franchise is set to get a third film around the same time as the racing flick.
Whatever the case may be, we hope that Days of Thunder 2 is just as radical, riveting, and rowdy as the first one was.
Source: Instagram, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter
