Although Top Gun: Maverick did introduce a slew of new characters to the series, one deleted scene will make it harder for Top Gun 3 to get viewers invested in them. Top Gun was a singularly focused movie despite the presence of memorable supporting stars like Val Kilmer’s Iceman and Tom Skerritt’s Viper.

Director Tony Scott’s cult classic is the story of Tom Cruise’s Maverick through and through, with viewers following the feckless test pilot through the dizzying highs and devastating lows of the titular flight school. In contrast, Top Gun: Maverick’s story gave its supporting stars more screen time.

By Top Gun: Maverick’s ending, it was clear that the sequel was still firmly focused on Cruise’s character. However, Miles Teller’s Rooster got a lot of screen time throughout the movie and viewers got intriguing glimpses of other interesting supporting stars such as Glen Powell’s Hangman and Jon Hamm’s Cyclone. While Top Gun 3’s story could expand on the sequel’s thinly-sketched character arcs, one problem from Top Gun: Maverick doesn’t bode well for this possibility. Top Gun: Maverick cut a scene that would have made two of its supporting stars more important, giving their screen time to Maverick instead.