Penny Benjamin, played by Jennifer Connelly, steps in to fill a difficult gap with her character in the much-anticipated “Top Gun” sequel.
Jennifer Connelly's inclusion in Top Gun: Maverick can be attributed to the absence of Kelly McGillis' Charlie Blackwood. Charlie's romance with Maverick was, of course, a major part of the original movie but has since become a thing of the past.
Is Penny Benjamin in the Original "Top Gun"? Penny, played by Jennifer Connelly, is not physically in the first "Top Gun" movie, but she does exist in it, though only mentioned in passing. She is never actually seen on screen.
Top Gun: Maverick's Penny Proves It Was Right Not To Bring Back Charlie - IMDb. Top Gun: Maverick didn't bring back Charlie Blackwood (Kelly McGillis), Pete's romantic partner in Top Gun, and instead introduced the character of Penny. Though surprising, the change was ultimately better for the film.
Penny is Maverick's on-again, off-again love in Top Gun: Maverick. While in the first film he was romantically involved with Charlie, a civilian liaison at the Top Gun Fighter School, he's since moved on decades later. Now, he's linked to Penny, a divorced single mom who owns a bar near the Top Gun school.
Top Gun: Maverick didn't bring back Charlie Blackwood (Kelly McGillis), Pete's romantic partner in Top Gun, and instead introduced the character of Penny. Though surprising, the change was ultimately better for the film.
Maverick and Penny may have had a romantic relationship several times over the years but he is not Amelia's father. Her real father is out of the picture and Penny raises her daughter as a single mother.
Amelia Benjamin is Penny's daughter. She loves her mother and has a good rapport with Maverick. With the stranger nature of Penny and Maverick's relationship, Amelia simply wants what's best for her mother. Lyliana Wray has guest-starred on Black-ish, The Night Shift, and Strange Angel.
Charlie was focused and career-driven, so it isn't outside the realm of possibility that she ultimately chose her professional life and moved up the ranks at the expense of her romantic relationship with Maverick. This is ultimately why the Kelly McGillis Top Gun: Maverick absence happened.
Penny Benjamin used to be Maverick's girlfriend, long before Maverick fell in love with Top Gun instructor Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood (portrayed by Kelly McGillis in the original Top Gun movie).
Before being the central love interest in Top Gun: Maverick, Penny is actually mentioned in the original Top Gun, being one of Maverick's former love interests. However, a new theory posits that Penny's ex-husband might be a character from the original movie as well.
Amelia Benjamin | Top Gun Wiki | Fandom.
However, a popular theory explains who Hangman is and why Iceman wants Maverick to come back after all these years. The theory states that Rooster isn't the only son of a Top Gun alumni and that Top Gun: Maverick will ultimately unveil that Hangman is Iceman's son. On a surface level, this theory makes sense.
Kelly appears as Sarah Kazansky - wife of Val Kilmer's character Tom "Iceman" Kazansky - in the 2022 action drama movie Top Gun: Maverick.
Kilmer was born December 31, 1959, in Los Angeles, California, the second of three sons to Gladys Swanette (née Ekstadt; 1928–2019) and Eugene Dorris Kilmer (1921–1993). His mother was of Swedish descent. His other ancestry includes English, Irish, Scottish, German and Cherokee roots.
Penny Benjamin is introduced in Top Gun: Maverick as the owner and bartender at the bar popular with Top Gun and other military personnel. It is clear that she and Maverick have known each other for a long time. She is also a single mom to a teenage daughter, Amelia (Lyliana Wray).
Kelly McGillis has publicly speculated that aging and other physical changes over the years had to do with why she wasn't asked to return in Top Gun: Maverick.
The Hard Deck bar was built from scratch, right on the beach in Coronado, but Kosinski says the scene was inspired by a very real place—the officers club at Top Gun school in Fallon, Nevada, which Kosinski visited while prepping for production in 2017.
It is revealed that Maverick has consistently broken Penny's heart when he ends up leaving her as part of his cyclical behaviour, with Penny's teenage daughter Amelia Benjamin (Lyliana Wray) warning him not to do it again.
Who Is Penny Benjamin in “Top Gun: Maverick?” Penny Benjamin, played by Jennifer Connelly, steps in to fill a difficult gap with her character in the much-anticipated “Top Gun” sequel.
While McGillis implied to Entertainment Tonight in 2019 (when production on Top Gun: Maverick was underway) that aging is why she wasn't asked back, director Joseph Kosinski told Insider that McGillis and Ryan aren't part of the sequel because of how their characters would impact the new stories.
Before the final mission, Goose's son, Rooster is still furious at Maverick and angrily makes the point that it doesn't matter if Maverick comes back from the mission or not. After all, he's got no wife and kids to mourn him. Maverick takes these words to heart and promptly proposes to Penny.
At the end of the film, when Maverick makes it back from the mission alive, he goes to find Penny but she's gone. Eventually, she comes back and reunites with Maverick, who then takes her on a plane-ride in his P-51 Mustang.
Maverick & Penny Get A Happy Ending
Yet Penny also recognized that Captain "Maverick" Mitchell had matured and that he still wanted to give something back to Top Gun because he was far from done as a fighter pilot.