Paramount Pictures has escalated the ongoing “Top Gun: Maverick” legal saga by filing a countersuit against Shaun Gray, the cousin of credited screenwriter Eric Warren Singer. The move flips Gray’s original claim on its head: if Gray really did co-write parts of the blockbuster sequel without a contract, Paramount says that would make him the infringer.
The dispute, dubbed the “Cousin Fight” for its family drama twist, centers on Gray’s alleged contributions to the 2022 hit. According to his lawsuit, Singer brought him in during development to help flesh out scenes, including the film’s opening sequence where Maverick destroys a cutting-edge test plane. Gray—primarily known as a visual effects artist—claims several of his scenes survived rewrites and made it to the final cut.
Paramount’s position: none of this was authorized. Hollywood studios typically require all writers to be contracted, both to secure ownership rights and to avoid exactly this kind of legal mess. Gray, who never signed with the studio, argued earlier this year that this meant he retained co-ownership of his work. A judge dismissed that claim in July but left the door open for him to pursue copyright infringement.
The countersuit attempts to slam that door shut. Paramount argues that if Gray wrote those scenes, he did so while using Paramount-owned characters and story material, effectively “playing with the studio’s toys without permission.” The filing also accuses him of fraud, claiming his silence about his involvement was a calculated move to seek a payout only after the film’s billion-dollar box office success.
Gray maintains the secrecy was to avoid jeopardizing Singer’s deal with Paramount. The studio, for its part, says it would have barred Singer from working with his cousin had it known, and replaced any of Gray’s work before production. Singer has stayed silent, while Gray’s lawyer accuses him of making a “secret deal” with Paramount that cut Gray out entirely.
This unusual copyright spat now sits at the intersection of Hollywood’s credit politics and family tensions, with Paramount aiming to turn Gray’s infringement claim into a liability against him instead.
