Top Gun fans have been left saddened that the release date to the upcoming sequel to the 1986 classic movie has been pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s why it came as good news to them this week when Maverick’s beloved wingman Goose spoke out to assure them that the new movie would be worth the wait.

Anthony Edwards, who played Goose in the original Top Gun, just sat down with Fox News to talk about the new movie Top Gun: Maverick and to reminisce about what it was like to work with Tom Cruise. Any Top Gun fan knows that Goose tragically dies in the original film, but while Edwards won’t be appearing in the sequel for that reason, he is confidant that the movie will be quite good.

“It’ll be fun to see. I love flying and I loved what we’ve achieved in that original that broke a lot of rules,” Edwards said. “It was just so exciting visually. Of course [Cruise] will do it justice. He’s proven himself as an actor, a filmmaker, a story maker for many years and Tom Cruise is going to do a great version of the sequel. He only has one switch.”

Edwards was just a young actor in his early 20s when he got his big break in Top Gun, and he has built a successful career since then. Most notably, he spent eight seasons playing Dr. Marc Greene on the medical television drama “ER,” winning a Golden Globe and six Screen Actor’s Guild awards for his work.

Despite his future success, his role in Top Gun still brings back some of the fondest memories Edwards has of his career.

“The most fun was getting qualified so that you could actually ride in the backseat to do the filming,” Edwards said. “It was an incredible experience because we had to go through all the air and water survival training that anybody would have to go through to fly in the back of one of those planes. It was pretty exciting.”

Edwards had always loved flying, even before working on the movie, and he now has ten years of experience as a single-engine pilot.

“It’s recreational but I love it,” he said.

That’s why he can understand why Cruise is known to insist on doing his own stunts to this day, regardless of how dangerous they are.

“I know that Tom always wants to do things to the nth degree, to the best of his ability, and if you have the opportunity to fly those planes, I wouldn’t blame him for doing it,” he said.

Top Gun: Maverick was set to premiere in June, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, its premiere date has been pushed back to December 23, 2020. Check out the trailer for the movie below!