Following news of Val Kilmer’s death Tuesday at age 65, many fans have returned to one particular scene in the actor’s storied film career: His last one, opposite Tom Cruise, in the 2022 blockbuster, “Top Gun: Maverick.”

In a cameo role, Kilmer reprised his iconic character of Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, whom he originated in 1986’s “Top Gun.” Kilmer’s Iceman, a former hotshot naval aviator risen to the rank of admiral, offers words of advice to his longtime friend and one-time rival pilot, Cruise’s older, but not necessarily wiser, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

Those words, “It’s time to let go,” are now resonating with Kilmer fans.

At Cruise’s insistence, the 2022 “Top Gun” sequel found a way to include Iceman in the story and to accommodate his friend Kilmer’s real-life struggles with throat cancer, which had significantly impacted his ability to speak. So, “Top Gun: Maverick” reveals that Iceman also has battled throat cancer. Sadly, Iceman’s cancer as returned and he is dying but he wants to talk with Maverick one last time.

During an emotional reunion that takes place in Iceman’s home office, he listens as Maverick asks for guidance on making a difficult professional and personal decision involving Rooster, a young pilot under his command, who is like a son to Maverick.

In the scene, Kilmer’s Iceman offers his end of the dialogue by typing words on a computer screen. After hearing Maverick share his fear about losing Rooster on a dangerous mission, Iceman types: “It’s time to let go.”

Iceman gestures to that message twice, in order to emphasize it to Maverick, and perhaps to audiences.

Following news of Kilmer’s death from pneumonia, fans went took to social media to reflect on that “Top Gun” scene about “letting go.”

“I still remember hearing people in the theater cry during this moment between Val Kilmer & Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick,” said the author of the film fan X account, Cinema Tweets. “I’m so incredibly thankful Cruise insisted on this scene because this moment is forever. RIP, Iceman.”

In reply, someone wondered about how much Kilmer and Cruise, though in their characters, were speaking to each other about mortality and saying goodbye. “Was it part of the movie line or Val telling Tom it was time to let go … Powerful moment.”

A short time later in the movie, news reaches Maverick that Iceman has died, and the movie presents Iceman’s naval funeral, with a bugler playing “Taps” and fighter jets flying over the cemetery in a mission-man aerial salute. “Cinema is forever,” the Cinema Tweets said, while sharing images of Cruise’s Maverick saluting Iceman in the funeral scene.

Following the summer 2022 release of “Top Gun: Maverick,” Cruise and Kilmer both spoke about how moving it was to work together again, especially amid Kilmer’s health struggles. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015 and said he recovered. However the treatment, which included two tracheotomies, affected his ability to speak and he mostly stepped back from the Hollywood spotlight.

Cruise said he and Kilmer had stayed in touch over the years but he told Jimmy Kimmel in February 2023 that it was still “pretty emotional” to reunite onscreen.

“For him to come back and play that character… he’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again. You’re looking at Iceman,” Cruise continued.

“I was crying, I was crying. I got emotional,” Cruise added. “He’s such a brilliant actor, I love his work.”

According to lore surrounding “Top Gun,” Kilmer didn’t want to be in the original movie but changed his mind once he got to the set and began working with Cruise and the other actors, People reported. He loved the “camaraderie” and playing Iceman, and he made a lifelong friend in Cruise.

Still, Kilmer also didn’t expect to be included in the sequel. Cruise campaigned to make sure that was. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer told People: “Tom said he wasn’t going to make the movie without him.”

Director Joseph Kosinski told the Los Angeles Times how important it was to have Kilmer and Cruise’s scene in the sequel.

“You’ve got two masters at the top of their game playing the most iconic characters of their careers,” Kosinski said. “I think there is a lot of Maverick in Tom, and Iceman in Val, so what you are seeing onscreen is an authentic friendship that has lasted over 36 years.”

“After one of the takes (we only did a few) I noticed that both Tom and Val had tears in their eyes,” Kosinski said. “It felt like a genuine moment between two old friends.”

For his part, Kilmer said working with Cruise again was a pleasure and not all serious.

“Tom and I get along really well,” he wrote in an email to the Los Angeles Times. “We giggled like little kids in school between takes. ... We shared intimate stories and challenges about our different lifestyles!!” Then, when it came time to film the scene, Kilmer said that the moment “was very personal and moving.”

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