While the Fast & Furious franchise has evolved over the years from focusing on street racing and small-time heists to delivering spy stories and over-the-top action, cars remains an important part of these movies’ appeal. So naturally, you’ll see many of the important players in these movies behind the wheel at least once, if not many times. That said, not everyone has the opportunity to drive in the Fast & Furious franchise, although that’s changing for Helen Mirren in F9.
So far, we’ve seen Helen Mirren’s Magdalene “Queenie” Shaw in The Fate of the Furious and Hobbs & Shaw, and both times she was nowhere near a steering wheel. Well, evidently the filmmakers decided it was finally time for her to partake in the driving side of the Fast & Furious excitement for F9, as Vin Diesel told the following to EW:
Again, without giving away any spoilers…You know what, I'm going to give you a spoiler: Yes, she gets to drive… It's so awesome. She gets to drive and she gets to drive sleek.
Considering that Helen Mirren campaigned to appear in the Fast & Furious franchise, going so far as to pitch the idea to Vin Diesel at a glitzy party, it’s about time we finally get to see her do some driving. Granted, the F9 trailer showed Magdalene Shaw behind the wheel while speaking with Diesel’s Dominic Toretto, but for all we knew, the car could have remained parked for the entirety of the conversation. While it remains to be seen in what circumstances Magdalene will be driving in F9, at least Mirren is finally getting to put the pedal to the metal like she’s wanted to do in this world for so long.
Magdalene Shaw is the mother of Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw, Luke Evans’ Owen Shaw and Vanessa Kirby’s Hattie Shaw. When we met her in The Fate of the Furious, she assisted Dominic Toretto in rescuing his son from Charlize Theron’s Cipher by bringing Deckard and Owen into the mix. By the time Hobbs & Shaw rolled around, Magdalene was incarcerated, and while she told Deckard that she was comfortable behind bars, that didn’t stop her from trying to escape at least a few times. Hobbs & Shaw ended with Deckard and Hattie reconciling, which Magdalene had desperately wanted, and the movie’s final minutes also indicated her children would break their mother free from prison.
Again, we don’t know yet specifically how Magdalene Shaw fits into the F9 picture, although this will mark her first appearance without any of her children involved in the narrative. With Dom’s brother, John Cena’s Jakob Toretto, having allied himself with Cipher, presumably Dom will either need information or more direct assistance from Magdalene during the course of this caper. Helen Mirren was also heard in the F9 trailer passing along some wisdom, saying how when love of family is turned into anger, there’s nothing more dangerous.
As things stand now, F9 races into theaters on May 28, although if that release date ends up changing, we here at CinemaBlend will let you know. In the meantime, look through our 2021 release schedule to find out what other movies come out later this year.
