'Top Gun' returns! Which characters are back in 'Maverick'? And who's Penny Benjamin?

Cruise is now Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in the new film. He hasn't changed much at all. And he's still bucking authority, riding his motorcycle along the jet runway and playing on the beach in blue jeans.

Maverick’s friend Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka radar intercept officer “Goose” (Anthony Edwards), of course died in a jet accident in "Top Gun." So he only appears in faded pictures hung on Maverick's pegboard. Maverick is still obsessed by Goose's death, speaking to him often.

Edwards, 59, at the Tony Awards, toldE.T. that "Maverick" was "the biggest movie that I'm in that I never had to show up for a day of work. So it was fun.

Goose's son, seen sitting on the piano during the "Great Balls of Fire" number in the first film, is all grown up and a pilot, Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), who blames Maverick for his father's death. The similarity between Teller and Edwards is so great that director Joseph Kosinski brought a photo of Teller with a Photoshopped mustache to pitch the sequel to Cruise.

Rooster even plays a rousing rendition of "Great Balls of Fire." Just like Dad.

Young Bradley (from left) and Maverick walk with Carole Bradshaw and husband Nick. Meg Ryan's Carole, who forgave Maverick for Goose's death, does not return for the sequel. It's revealed in the new movie that Carole has died.

Val Kilmer's Tom "Iceman" Kazansky was Maverick's rival pilot in "Top Gun." But in the end, he told Maverick, "You can be my wingman anytime." Iceman has lived up to that promise, keeping Maverick in line while rising the Navy ranks. He's now Admiral Kazansky.

Tension no more. Iceman (Val Kilmer) and Maverick (Tom Cruise) face off in "Top Gun." The two have found mutual love and mellowed out in "Top Gun: Maverick."

Kilmer tells USA TODAY that his onscreen "Top Gun: Maverick" hug with Tom Cruise came"straight from the heart."

Love interest and civilian contractor Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood (Kelly McGillis) returned from her Washington gig to be with Maverick at the end of "Top Gun." But Charlie isn't seen or mentioned in "Maverick." 

“It's 35 years ago, that's in the past. This is Maverick in a different part of his life,” says the director. “We wanted to tell a new story, not retreading Charlie Blackwood.”

Instead, Maverick's new love interest in Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly). Interestingly, Benjamin is a legacy character even though she's never seen in "Top Gun.