Glen Powell Recalls 'Pressure' Making 'Top Gun: Maverick' and Reaction to Those Viral 'Thirst Trap' TikToks

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Glen Powell is "still pinching" himself over the success of Top Gun: Maverick.

After being delayed for almost three years due to the pandemic, the Top Gun sequel received widespread acclaim since hitting theaters May 27, earning over $1.4 billion worldwide at the box office.

As a fan of the original 1986 film starring Tom Cruise, Powell tells PEOPLE he is "very grateful" to now be a part of Top Gun: Maverick, which is now available on digital, featuring never-before-scene content.

"The dream of this business is to occupy the costumes of your heroes. And to occupy a flight suit with Tom Cruise is as cool as it gets," he says. "I'm still pinching myself."

Set 30 years after the original film, Top Gun: Maverick follows Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Cruise) as he trains a group of Top Gun graduates for a special assignment. With the sequel introducing so many new cast members — including Powell, Miles Teller, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis and Danny Ramirez — the actor says Cruise was an "endless source of wisdom and advice" for everyone on set and continues to be a mentor even after filming.

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"You just never know if someone's going to continue being in your life after you wrap a movie, it's just sort of hit or miss," Powell says. "I've just been grateful [for] how Tom has been so involved in my career and how he checks in to make sure the changing of my life is going well and to see what I'm working on next and if I need any help with it. He's just such a special friend. I'm just so grateful that he's as cool, if not cooler, than you would hope he'd be."

"On this movie, I really got to learn from the greats," he adds, noting that his film education went to the "next level" after working alongside Cruise and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. While the film challenged Powell as an actor, he admits the most challenging aspect of filming was trying to live up to fans' expectations.

He says, "When you have a movie the size of Top Gun, there's a lot of expectations on how you play a certain character. You don't want to be a derivative. You don't want to be stuck in the '80s. You're trying to figure out a way to update things. When you have that amount of expectations, there are a lot of ways to miss. There are a lot of ways to fail."

Though Powell says there was "a lot of pressure" when filming the movie, Cruise gave the cast some sound advice to help them through it: "Tom said this phrase, 'Pressure's a privilege.' When there's [an] expectation on something, it also means there's a lot of opportunity."

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"Everybody put everything they had into making sure this movie was great," Powell continues. "It's fun to rewatch the movie and see how well it turned out and how people are responding to it because it reminds you that all the different decisions and all the choices and all the thought and work that went into that. Even something like the beach scene, you're like, 'Okay, cool. I'm glad we're viral on TikTok. I'm glad those sit-ups weren't for nothing.' "

About that viral beach scene, Powell says there was "so much anxiety" about filming it initially: "Talking to Rick Rossovich or Val Kilmer, they didn't know [the volleyball scene in the first movie] was going to be as iconic as it was. But for us on this, we knew that everybody would be waiting for that scene. And I thank God they did that early on in the movie because then we could actually have tequila and enjoy life a little bit, rather than starve and eat protein all day long."

"My girlfriend [Gigi Paris was] the first one to send me all the thirst trap TikToks that have come from it, which is all very flattering," he adds. "We ate a little differently in those months, that's for sure."

Powell also had the support of Paris and his family for the film's global premiere in San Diego, which Powell says was a super special moment for the entire cast.

"My family and my girlfriend, they know how much this movie means to me and how much the cast means to me," he says. "Especially after we didn't know if we were going to get to have a premiere or put it out in theaters, to have that celebration together, especially with my family who sacrificed so much for me to even pursue this dream, [was] incredible."

Given the widespread success of the sequel, naturally, fans are already hoping for another film, but Powell is staying tight-lipped on that for now.

"There's definitely been conversations [but] it's above my pay grade," Powell says. "It's really up to Tom. It's up to Jerry. It's up to all the powers that be, but if they call me back to Miramar, I'll be there."

Top Gun: Maverick is available now on digital and will be available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on Nov. 1 from Paramount Home Entertainment.