Things have been weird for the Fast & Furious saga for a few years, but the dam seemed to have really broken with last year’s Fast X. Beyond franchise star Vin Diesel saying he was going to stick around for Fast XI, there hasn’t been much word on that film, and you wouldn’t be wrong for wondering if it was still happening at all. Fortunately, Diesel’s spent the past week posting about the film’s production on Instagram, but unfortunately, some of what he’s saying may not calm any concerns you have about said sequel.
“I got universal in one ear saying we need FastX2 by March 2026!” he wrote on Thanksgiving. “I have Comcast in the other ear saying we need two movies to be the Finale! Then the writer on Fast Five sent me this image and said we need to see DOM and HOBBS resolve their differences. I just want to get back to real street racing, practical stunts… and a reunion of that beautiful brotherhood. Happy Thanksgiving…”
Let’s take these one at a time: during Fast X’s premiere in Italy last year, Diesel claimed this story had enough gas in the tank to serve as its own trilogy. But it would depend on the film’s box office, and it ended up making $715 million, the second lowest-grossing film of the series post-Fast Five. Universal’s never really stated things in either direction, but again, they haven’t said anything about Fast & Furious’ future after Fast XI. As for Dom and Hobbs, Diesel and Dwayne Johnson famously didn’t get along, eventually resulting in the two openly not sharing scenes together during Fate of the Furious and the creation of Hobbs & Shaw. Hobbs wasn’t around for F9, but he did pop return for Fast X’s mid-credits scene to set up a second spinoff that may or may not happen.
Finally, the return to street antics and practical stunts is something the franchise’s writers talked about wanting to return to. At the top of last week, Diesel posted set footage for Fast X2 which praised practical shots and exteriors. Who knows what this all means in the long-term, but it seems like some of the recent Fast movies have been something of a wakeup call for Diesel, Universal, and the producers. How that pertains to Fast XI, we’ll have to wait and see.
[via Polygon]
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