Tom Cruise has confirmed his next project, and it is one fans have been asking about for decades. A Days of Thunder sequel is racing into theatres on June 2, 2028, with Cruise back behind the wheel as Cole Trickle. He announced it in a video shared to his socials, filmed at an empty Daytona International Speedway, and he was not alone.
Anne Hathaway appeared alongside him and is confirmed as the female lead, playing a team owner and engineer. Jonathan Levine is directing from a script by Will Staples.
The rest of the cast remains a mystery. Hathaway’s casting does strongly suggest Nicole Kidman will not be back, which surprises nobody given that she and Cruise are exes. So where is everyone from the 1990 original now?
1. Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise was already a star when he filmed this movie, but the three decades since have been remarkable. He built the Mission: Impossible franchise into eight films, earned Oscar nominations for Jerry Maguire and Magnolia, and delivered a genuine phenomenon with the sequel movie Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.
In November 2025, he finally collected an Academy Award, an honorary Oscar presented at the Governors Awards after four nominations without a win. He has Digger with Alejandro G. Iñárritu arriving this year, and he is producing Days of Thunder 2 as well as starring in it.
2. Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman in Days of Thunder | Credits: Paramount Pictures
Nicole Kidman met Cruise on this set, and the two married in December 1990. The relationship lasted roughly a decade before ending in 2001, and they made two more films together along the way, Far and Away and Eyes Wide Shut.
Her career since has been extraordinary. She won the Best Actress Oscar for The Hours and reinvented the musical with Moulin Rouge! in the 2000s. She dominated prestige television with Big Little Lies, and took big swings recently with Babygirl. With Hathaway aboard, her return to the sequel looks very unlikely.
3. Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall as Harry Hogge in Days of Thunder | Credits: Paramount Pictures
Robert Duvall played crew chief Harry Hogge, the film’s heart and the man who teaches Cole how to actually drive. The role was inspired by the real-life NASCAR figure, Harry Hyde. Duvall was already a legend by 1990, and he kept going for decades afterwards.
He wrote, directed, and starred in The Apostle in 1997. For The Judge in 2014, he earned his seventh and final Oscar nod, making him the oldest Best Supporting Actor nominee at the time. Duvall died at his Virginia home on February 15, 2026, aged 95.
4. Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid as Tim Daland in Days of Thunder | Credits: Paramount Pictures
Randy Quaid played team owner Tim Daland, and the years right after Days of Thunder were busy ones. He blew things up in Independence Day, went bowling in Kingpin, appeared in Brokeback Mountain, and earned a Golden Globe nomination as Colonel Tom Parker in the Elvis miniseries.
Following a string of legal problems in the late 2000s, he stepped away from mainstream Hollywood (via ABC). Now 75 and living quietly in Vermont, he mostly turns up at fan conventions. He has already shared his apprehensions over the casting of “woke” Anne Hathaway in the sequel (via @RandyRRQuaid/X). So, his appearance seems improbable.
5. Michael Rooker
Michael Rooker as Rowdy Burns in Days of Thunder | Credits: Paramount Pictures
Michael Rooker played Rowdy Burns, the rival who becomes Cole’s friend, and he has worked constantly ever since. He has built one of the most recognizable character-actor careers around, largely by playing men you would not want to cross.
Genre fans know him as Merle Dixon from The Walking Dead and, more affectionately, as Yondu in the first two Guardians of the Galaxy films. He also turned up in The Suicide Squad. Given that Rowdy survived the original and is still Cole’s friend, he is one of the likelier returns.
6. Cary Elwes
Cary Elwes as Russ Wheeler in Days of Thunder | Credits: Paramount Pictures
Cary Elwes was Russ Wheeler, the rookie rival Cole genuinely dislikes. Elwes followed this role with Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He then found a whole new audience with Saw in 2004 and Stranger Things in 2019.
Elwes played Denlinger in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and returned for The Final Reckoning in 2025. Two collaborations in three years with Tom Cruise make him a very plausible candidate for the sequel.
7. John C. Reilly
John C. Reilly as Buck Bretherton in Days of Thunder | Credits: Paramount Pictures
John C. Reilly was only a year into his screen career when he played crew member Buck Bretherton, and he has since become one of the most versatile actors working. He became a regular in Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies after sharing the screen with Cruise again in Anderson’s Magnolia.
He earned an Oscar nomination for Chicago. He also went back to racing for laughs in Talladega Nights, and appeared alongside Rooker in Guardians of the Galaxy. His next film, How to Rob a Bank, is set to be released in theaters in September.
8. Fred Dalton Thompson
Fred Dalton Thompson as Big John in Days of Thunder | Credits: Paramount Pictures
Fred Dalton Thompson played Big John, the president of NASCAR. For Thompson, acting was arguably his side career. He was a real lawyer who went on to serve as a US Senator for Tennessee from 1994 to 2003, then campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.
He kept working on screen throughout, most famously as District Attorney Arthur Branch on Law & Order, a role he played for five years. Thompson died on November 1, 2015, aged 73, following a recurrence of lymphoma.
Which of the original cast would you most like to see back on track in 2028? Let us know in the comments below!
Days of Thunder is now available for streaming on Paramount+ and Fubo.
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