The Fast And Furious franchise, in recent years, has become more and more insane with unbelievable stunts, cyborgs, and characters that seem to have been brought back from the dead. This was most recently seen in the record-breaking Fast And Furious 9 trailer where Han Lue (Sung Kang), who died in Tokyo Drift, walked on to the screen as if nothing happened.
All of that got us thinking - if characters like Han and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) can come back from the grave and continue driving, diving, and stealing cars with Dom and the rest of the crew, who else should return in future installments of the billion-dollar franchise?
Over the years, the Fast And Furious franchise has introduced audiences to dozens of iconic characters who have fallen by the wayside. Here are six of the fastest and most furious characters we’d like to see be brought back as the franchise continues to grow.
Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes)
United States Customs agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) was a crucial element in the plot of 2 Fast 2 Furious, but was all but forgotten aside from a brief cameo in Fast Five. Introduced as the undercover contact for Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Fuentes helped the pair insert themselves in drug lord Carter Verone’s (Cole Hauser) criminal enterprise.
Fuentes disappeared from the series when the rest of the original cast returned for the 2009 Fast And Furious soft reboot, and as mentioned above, only returned for a brief cameo in the post-credits scene in the fifth installment of the franchise. It looked like she would maybe play a larger role in the subsequent films after her interaction with Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), but that hasn’t been the case.
It would be amazing if Fuentes returned at some point when Fast And Furious 9 premieres this summer.
Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot)
This next one is a stretch, I know, but hear me out. So, we saw Han die in Tokyo Drift and then archival and alternate footage of him dying in Furious 7, only for him to return in F9. With all of that being said, couldn’t the same happen with Gisele Yashar, his former partner in crime and love interest? Yeah, we saw her fall from a plane in Fast And Furious 6, but that doesn’t mean she couldn't have miraculously survived the fall and went into hiding. It certainly wouldn’t be the strangest thing to happen in the Fast And Furious franchise.
Gisele played a major role in all of the movies from Fast And Furious (2009) to Fast And Furious 6, and over time, became a vital member of Dom and Brian’s crew. She was a remarkable driver, superb fighter, and with looks that could kill, Gisele helped out the crew in a number of ways. Her death was one of the most traumatic moments in the franchise and had an impact on everyone in the crew, especially Han.
Just imagine Han returns in F9, finds himself in mortal danger and is saved by a mysterious character. Now imagine that character is Gisele. Here’s my money, Universal. Take all of it.
Owen Shaw (Luke Evans)
The franchise introduced one of the most engaging villains when Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) was brought into the fold for Fast And Furious 6. Shaw would go on to give Dom, Brian, and the rest of the crew a run for their money before being taken out and placed in a coma at the end of the film.
Owen Shaw was only featured briefly in the beginning of Furious 7 when his brother Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) visited his kid brother and vowed to get back at the people that hurt his family. But that all changed by the time Fate Of The Furious rolled around a few years later when Deckard and Owen teamed up with Dom to save his young son, Brian, who had been kidnapped by Cipher.
We don’t know what came of Owen Shaw after forcing Cipher’s pilot to land the plane at the conclusion of the eighth film, and he didn’t show up in his brother’s spin-off Hobbs And Shaw, so we don’t know whether he will return for Fast And Furious 9 or not, but we can only hope that he teams up with his older brother again at some point. I mean, Luke Evans really brought the whole villain role to another level when compared to his predecessors, so having him return as either a villain or an anti-hero could open a lot of doors for the franchise.
Riley Hicks (Gina Carano)
Diplomatic Security Service agent Riley Hicks (Gina Carano) has only showed up once in the franchise when she was revealed to be a double agent working for Owen Shaw in Fast And Furious 6. Hicks was last seen being shot by a harpoon gun and falling out of an airplane, but there’s a small chance that someone of her stature would survive such an injury.
Plus, Gina Carano has become somewhat of an action star following her appearance in the 2013 film, including a minor role in the 2016 Deadpool and a much larger role in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. The former combat athlete and actress has become a much larger name and better performer since then, so it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility if she showed up at one point or another in the future.
Tego Leo And Rico (Tego Calderon And Don Omar)
Tego Leo and Rico Santos quickly became fan favorites when they were introduced to the franchise via the 2009 short film Los Bandoleros that led into the events of Fast And Furious later that year. The two friends were key members of Dom’s crew during the oil tanker heist that served as the climax of the film, but the two would really take it up a notch with the next entry in the franchise.
During Fast Five, Leo and Rico performed a great deal of the recon work that needed to be completed before the crew could steal the two bank vaults for that incomprehensible action set-piece that anchored the entire movie. Following the events of the film, Leo and Rico were seen playing roulette in Monaco where they up their entire shares on red and black, respectively. The results of that bet were never revealed.
The two characters wouldn’t show up again until Fate Of The Furious, even then only being briefly shown when Dom was rescuing his son from Cipher (Charlize Theron). It’s not known what happened to the fan favorites, and they weren’t featured in the new trailer, but who knows, they could pop up again and tell everyone who won that fateful bet in Monaco.
Will any of these characters join the likes of Han Lue and return to the Fast And Furious franchise? We’ll just have to wait and see when Fast And Furious 9 hits theaters this summer.
