When Justin Lin’s Furious 7 was greenlit, the producers behind the long-running action franchise envisioned part seven as the start of a new trilogy of Fast films. That plan was sidetracked – albeit temporarily – by the death of franchise founding father Paul Walker. As we all know, though, Furious 7 found a way to wrap, and the team’s moving forward with Furious 8... and beyond, as we are now able to confirm.
We were able to interview longtime Fast & Furious producer Neal Moritz about his upcoming Goosebumps adaptation, but the conversation swung to Furious 8, which isn’t due out until April 2017. Given that they have time to develop the direction of this sequel, Moritz told us that they will not hire a director until they have had more time to properly develop the screenplay. And when I asked him if that means Furious 8 is, in fact, still part of a developing trilogy, he confirmed that is the case.
Which means we’ll see Fast & Furious 9 before all is said and done.
Neal Moritz didn’t reveal any additional details about the direction of the trilogy, and it’s clear that all of this very much remains in the planning stages. But you could tell that seeds of a larger story were being planted in Furious 7, starting with the introduction of Mister Nobody, a shadowy government agent played by Kurt Russell in the film. It’s very possible that you could see Mr. Nobody manipulating Dom (Vin Diesel), Hobbs (The Rock) and the rest of the Fast & Furious crew to pull off significant missions for him. Jason Statham has said that he plans to return for future installments in the series. There even have been suggestions that Furious 8 could take the action to New York City, and they might even find room for Eva Mendes’ character, Monica Fuentes, last seen in a "spoilery" scene in Fast Five:
Continuing the Fast & Furious saga makes all of the sense in the world. In an industry where studios are starving for viable franchises, Vin Diesel and his friends – sorry, family – are coming off of a massive hit in Furious 7, which so far has banked $1.51 billion dollars worldwide. You don’t shut the door on that kind of audience interest, so it’s exciting to hear that Moritz and the creative team behind the future of the franchise are, indeed, looking long term and planning on the next two adventures of Dom Toretto and the crew. Because with Vin Diesel and The Rock turning 49 and 44 on their next respective birthdays, only Father Time will stand in the way of an infinite number of Fast & Furious films, it seems.
