I remember back when Fast Five came out a decade ago and thinking that the Fast & Furious franchise can’t possibly be coming back for another film. Well, now that we’re 20 years and soon-to-be 10 films deep into the Fast & Furious franchise, I can admit that I was flat out wrong. If people were skeptical of the longevity of this franchise then, they know better now, because has it grown! Even more big stars like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham have joined in, and the two have even now led their own spinoff. But that doesn't mean we've seen the last of them, as F9 director Justin Lin recently talked about how the two could fit into the future of the franchise, including perhaps Fast 10.
In an interview with Deadline, Justin Lin was asked about the future of Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw in the Fast & Furious universe. Although they will not appear in the steadily-approaching F9, Lin sure makes it sound like we will see them again. Here’s the promising news in his exact words:
I never really considered them gone, you know? To me, they’re still in this universe; they’re part of this family. Whatever we do, whenever we’re talking about the next chapter, I never feel like I have any restrictions, so I’m excited for what we build, and as we’re coming to this kind of final chapter of this saga, I think I’m excited to revisit…Any character, in any situation, is up for discussion.
It sounds like there is a good chance we could see these two actors reprise characters in future franchise films, like Fast 10 (or Fast 10.5?) in addition to a Hobbs and Shaw sequel. The pair are pretty popular for being somewhat of later additions to the franchise, so their appearances would likely be very welcome to fans.
After over 20 years of beautiful cars and action stars behind their wheels, Fast 10 is set to be the conclusion of the main Fast Saga. That doesn’t mean the universe will be ending completely though! There are still future spinoff films to look forward to, and the Fast and Furious Spy Racers animated series is still going strong on Netflix.
Seeing as F9 hasn’t even hit theaters yet, we may be getting ahead of ourselves looking so far in the future of the Fast & Furious franchise. Even so, it’s a pretty bright light to look forward to when you consider Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham’s returns very possible. Until then, we’ll just have to settle for the Johnson and Statham-less F9, which is finally set to release to theaters June 25 after a string of delays.
