With Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham being busy shooting Hobbs and Shaw, the two will be sitting out the next main installment of the Fast and Furious franchise, Fast and Furious 9. However, that movie will be getting some new star power to help fill that void, as after being teased in April, it’s been confirmed that John Cena has joined the Fast and Furious 9 cast.
Back in April, Vin Diesel, who’s been playing Dominic Toretto in the Fast and Furious universe universe since the beginning, posted a video of himself with John Cena, hinting that the two would be collaborating on this car and explosions-filled franchise. Now Universal Pictures has made it official that Cena will be part of Fast and Furious 9.
For now, though, Universal is keeping mum about who John Cena will play, with Deadline only hearing that his character is a “badass.” That’s not difficult to imagine in the slightest given John Cena’s reputation and some of his previous roles, but that’ll nonetheless make him a good fit for the next Fast and Furious movie.
In addition to remaining one of the WWE’s top stars, John Cena has done a solid job of strengthening his film career in recent years, from comedy work like Trainwreck and Blockers to playing the badass Agent Jack Burns in the Transformers spinoff Bumblebee. Needless to say that joining Fast and Furious 9 boost his blockbuster cred further.
No plot details for Fast and Furious 9 have been revealed yet, but Dan Casey is penning the screenplay from a story by Justin Lin. That makes this the first Fast and Furious movie since Tokyo Drift not to be written by Chris Morgan.
Justin Lin directed three of the previous Fast and Furious movies, and might be sitting back in the director’s chair for this latest installment. Fast and Furious 9 will always be the first movie in the franchise not to have producer Neal Moritz involved, as he was fired by Universal due to a legal dispute.
As far as the rest of the announced cast cast goes, along with Vin Diesel and John Cena, Jordana Brewster is on board to reprise Mia Toretto, who was last seen in Furious 7, which served as a sendoff for her husband, Brian O’Conner, played by the late Paul Walker. After initially being unsure about if she’d return for Fast and Furious 9 due to being disappointed with how the series’ female characters were treated, Michelle Rodriguez agreed to reprise Letty Ortiz after a female writer joined the production.
Fast and Furious 9 races into theaters on May 22, 2020, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more coverage. In the meantime, John Cena’s upcoming movie appearances include Playing with Fire and The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle, and you can also see him hosting the Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? revival on Nickelodeon starting next Monday, June 10.
