The Fast and the Furious franchise is taking a detour from the main film series and now following Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw in their own spinoff. A good portion of the appropriately-titled Hobbs and Shaw’s cast was announced in the latter half of last year, but today Johnson has announced that the upcoming blockbuster will also serve as a WWE/family reunion, as Roman Reigns will be playing Hobbs’ brother. As Johnson wrote:
A lil’ HOBBS & SHAW exclusive. Good times droppin’ sweat and spillin’ blood with my family, Roman Reigns who’ll be playing my brother in our FAST & FURIOUS UNIVERSE. I’m very proud of his focus, effort and authentic performance in our movie for his very first time on film.
Considering that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Roman Reigns (real name Leati Joseph Anoa’i) are real-life cousins, it’s cool that these two will get to play brothers in Hobbs and Shaw, which will be Roman Reigns’ feature film debut. Of course, wrestling fans are quite familiar with Roman since he’s been a WWE all-star for nearly a decade, but as Johnson pointed out on his Instagram post, Roman has been on hiatus since he announced last October on Raw that his leukemia had returned. However, in the midst of going through treatment for the disease, now we know he’s also been hard at work acting on Hobbs and Shaw.
Last May, before the Hobbs and Shaw cast started to fill out, it was reported that we would meet the extended Hobbs clan, which supposedly includes five brothers. One of the brothers, named Jonah, was said to being playing a bigger role in the movie, as he holds “a bit of a grudge” against Luke for some reason. Assuming this information is true, it’s unclear if Roman Reigns is playing Jonah or one of the other brothers, but clearly Dwayne Johnson is happy to be working with his cousin in Hawaii.
But Hobbs and Shaw isn’t just introducing us to other members of the Hobbs family. The spinoff is also introducing us to Deckard Shaw’s sister, Hattie Shaw, an MI6 agent being played by Vanessa Kirby. As for familiar characters, Eliana Su’a has succeeded Eden Estrella as Luke’s daughter, Samantha, but there’s no word on if we’ll be treated to appearances from Deckard’s brother Owen or his mother Magdalene.
No specific plot details for Hobbs and Shaw have been revealed yet, but the cast also includes Idris Elba as Brixton, the international terrorist that Luke and Deckard clash with, and Eiza Gonzalez as the mysterious Madam M, while Eddie Marsan has also been added in a yet-to-be-revealed role. Deadpool 2’s David Leitch directed Hobbs and Shaw, and longtime Fast and the Furious franchise contributor Chris Morgan penned the script.
Hobbs and Shaw rolls into theaters on August 2, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. In the meantime, look through our 2019 release schedule to learn what other movies are opening this year.
