At this point it feels like the Fast and Furious franchise has done it all. They've been all over the world, and completed all forms of crazy stunts. The new trailer for the film even implied that what started as a joke, that the series should take the characters to outer space, might even be actually happening, or at least something very close to it. There seems to be little else for the new movie to do of note, except, as it turns out, have two female characters actually spend any meaningful time on screen together. F9 will finally give Michelle Rodriguez's Letty and Jordana Brewster's Mia some real time on screen together.
It sounds wild, but it's true that the two main female characters throughout the Fast & Furious movies have never really conversed with each other on screen or had any meaningful interactions. This despite the fact that the franchise is nearly nine movies long and the two characters are sisters-in-law, as Mia is the sister of Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto and Letty is his wife. But Jordana Brewster told Insider that getting these two characters together was a big deal for Rodriguez and so their relationship will be dealt with in the new movie...
Michelle [Rodriguez] was like, 'Dude, we've never had a scene together. We're always secondary with the guys. We don't interact. We have a sisterhood. We need to explore this.'
At first glance it seems impossible that Letty and Mia have had no scenes together in the franchise, but when you break it down it's perhaps not that crazy. Of the eight movies that have been released thus far, neither character appeared in the second or third entry. Letty's character is basically absent from the fourth film, as she apparently is killed, and then is also presumed dead in Fast Five. When she returns in the sixth film, she's on the other side due to her amnesia. Mia is likewise missing from the most recent movie, The Fate of the Furious, apparently having left the life to be with her family.
So when you eliminate the films where the characters are literally missing, there are really only a couple of movies where the two characters would even have a chance to be together in any meaningful way, but it seems even then that doesn't really happen. The Fast and the Furious has always been something of a boys club where the actresses haven't been given equal billing. However, Michelle Rodriguez took very public issue with that fact after the last movie, even indicating she might not return for future films if the issue was not addressed.
The issue was addressed, and so not only are Letty and Mia back, but they'll be able to actually explore their characters and their relationship to each other in a meaningful way. It's just one more reason to be excited for F9 when it comes out June 25.
