It’s time to gear up, because we’ll be getting Fast & Furious movies for the next three summers. As the massive franchise gets ready to release its first spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw, the main cast is hard at work on 2020’s Fast & Furious 9 before moving to the tenth installment for summer 2021. Whew! That’s a lot of fast cars coming our way!
Fast & Furious 9 began filming in London just a few weeks ago, and much of the cast has now assembled for their first photo together for Michelle Rodriguez’s birthday. Take a look:
What an adorable “family” photo! The ensemble cast members were all smiles in Nathalie Emmanuel’s tribute to the longtime Fast and Furious actress on Instagram. Tyrese Gibson’s Roman Pearce, Jordana Brewster’s Mia, and Emmanuel are on the left, with the franchise’s new addition John Cena posing in the middle with Vin Diesel’s Dom, Rodriguez, director Justin Lin, newcomer Anna Sawai, and Ludacris’ Tej.
Fast & Furious has grown exponentially since it first began in 2001, with Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, and the late Paul Walker. With each installment, new faces have joined the franchise. The upcoming ninth installment will reunite much of this cast, including Justin Lin at the helm, who previously directed four other films: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Fast & Furious 6 before leaving to work on Star Trek Beyond.
Also returning for Fast 9 are Charlize Theron’s Cipher and Helen Mirren’s Magdalene Shaw, who joined the series in 2017’s Fate of the Furious. The movie has also enlisted a few new actors in undisclosed roles: Anna Sawai, Finn Cole, Vinnie Bennett, and ‘Baby Brian’ played by child actor named Isaac. Vin Diesel recently shared a set video on Instagram praising new actress Anna Sawai, saying she will blow the world away:
Coming off his recent role in Bumblebee, John Cena has also shown his excitement to join the ensemble, recently sharing a sweet message to fans. Since Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham are starring in Hobbs & Shaw, they’ll be sitting out the upcoming Fast & Furious movie, but hopefully they’ll rejoin the cast for the tenth film.
It’s pretty impressive to see such a big cast of busy actors still come together for Fast & Furious after an almost 20-year tenure for the franchise. Michelle Rodriguez reportedly almost wasn’t going to come on board to reprise her role of Letty after voicing some concerns about the way the female characters are treated in the franchise. However, her concerns were apparently put to rest when a female writer joined the team.
Looks like the actress had a blast celebrating her 41st birthday on set with the cast, after starring in five other Fast & Furious films, along with Avatar, Widows, and Alita: Battle Angel. You can see Hobbs & Shaw August 2, Fast 9 on May 22, 2020 and Fast 10 on April 2, 2021.
