Tom Cruise will be back on the big screen driving race cars for the Days of Thunder sequel, but this time with a different leading lady.
Cruise, 64, will reprise his role as NASCAR driver Cole Trickle in the Days of Thunder sequel, with Anne Hathaway, 43, slated to play opposite him as leading lady.
Tom Cruise and Anne Hathaway announce days of thunder sequel Instagram/@tomcruise
The original film, released in 1990, featured Cruise and his ex-wife, Aussie actress Nicole Kidman, who will (unsurprisingly) not be returning for the sequel.
In the original, Kidman plays neurosurgeon Dr Claire Lewiki, who treats Trickle after a serious crash. The pair fall in love while she’s treating him.
Ironically, Kidman and Cruise first met on the set of Days of Thunder, leading to their romance and marriage in 1990 before they later divorced in 2001. They have been notoriously estranged since, so it’s no surprise that Kidman won’t be returning.
Instead, Hathaway will join the cast in a new role, playing a team owner and engineer. It marks the first time Cruise and Hathaway will work together.
The pair announced the news with a lighthearted Instagram video.
It starts with Cruise tapping the camera and saying “I think it’s on, Annie, it looks on to me?” before panning the camera to Hathaway.
“That looks on,” she says before waving at the camera. “What should we do?” she asks, looking to Cruise.
“We show them!” Cruise replies, with the pair walking back and standing next to a race car, with the words “Days of Thunder. Summer 2028″ written on the side.
“Now what,” Cruise asks. “We make the movie! That’s what. I’ll have this baby and then we’ll make the movie,” Hathaway chimed in while rubbing her bump.
Tom Cruise and Anne Hathaway announce days of thunder sequel Instagram/@tomcruise
Hathaway is pregnant with her third child, but she’s clearly got no plans of slowing down even with a newborn.
The actress has starred in some of the biggest films of the year, including The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey and The End of Oak Street.
She also just wrapped up filming the screen adaption of Coleen Hoover’s book Verity, which comes out in October.
Meanwhile, Cruise is fresh from filming his upcoming satirical black comedy Digger, where he plays the “most powerful man in the world” who must save the planet from an ecological disaster of his own making.
Of course, while Kidman won’t be returning to the sequel, she’s booked and busy in her own right, with a long list of projects she’s got on the go, including the Practical Magic sequel and the Amazon series Scarpetta.
The Days of Thunder sequel has not started filming yet, with the release date set for 2028.