After the surprise plague at the end of Fast XUniversal makes it official: Dwayne Johnson is back for another Fast and furious movie.
Johnson will star in a self-titled Fast project, Universal and Johnson announced Thursday. Fast mainstay Chris Morgan wrote the script. The return is a major turnaround for the star who repeatedly insisted he was done with the action film series after a clash with Fast headliner Vin Diesel.
The new project is also a franchise return for Morgan, who sat out F9 And Fast X but wrote six of the main franchise films and its 2019 spin-off, Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shawstarring Johnson and Jason Statham.
Johnson will also produce this Fast project with his Seven Bucks Productions partners Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia. Interestingly, joining Johnson on the producer list is Fast star and steward Diesel, who will produce along with Samantha Vincent through their One Race company. (The producers clearly take the franchise’s “family” theme to heart, as Dany Garcia is Johnson’s ex-wife, while Hiram Garcia is Dany’s brother and Johnson’s ex-brother-in-law. Samantha Vincent is Diesel’s sister .)
Also producing are Morgan for his Chris Morgan Productions, Jeff Kirschenbaum for Roth/Kirschenbaum Films and Neal Moritz for Original Film.
This new film is not a spin-off a la Hobbs and Shawnor is it one Fast 11 or Fast 12. Rather, sources say the film will act as a bridging chapter between Fast X And Fast 11more one Fast X.5, if you want. It is expected that other star Fast actors too.
But fans shouldn’t get too excited about an on-screen reunion between Johnson and Diesel just yet. Sources also say that Diesel is not expected to star in this side chapter, though nothing is being ruled out for future projects.
Essentially, the two conflicting megastars have found a way to reunite behind the screen, but not on screen, to return Johnson to the Fast franchise, but without bringing him back to Diesel’s family dinners.
Johnson and Diesel famously clashed on the 2016 set The fate of the furious, prompting Johnson to take his displeasure public on Instagram and call out an unnamed male costar. Over the years, he has stated several times in the press that he would not be returning to the main franchise. “I wish them the best Fast 9. And I wish them continued success Fast 10 And Fast 11 and the rest of the Fast & Furious movies they make that will be without me,” Johnson said The Hollywood Reporter in 2021.
A few months later, Diesel issued a public appeal for Johnson to return Fast X. Again, Johnson said in the press that he wouldn’t be coming back, telling CNN there was “no chance” he would return after privately telling Diesel ahead of the co-star’s public overture. “I also spoke privately with my partners at Universal, who were all very supportive because they understood the issue,” Johnson said.
Still, afterwards Fast X was completed, Johnson was convinced to return for a cameo. “We contacted Dwayne and his team and said, ‘Just come and see the movie. You have to love the movie first.’ So he came to see the movie and really loved it, and then we started talking,” Fast X told filmmaker Louis Leterrier THR last month.
But in a social media post Thursday, Johnson said the family was back together.
“Last summer Vin and I put the past behind us. We lead with brotherhood and determination – always caring for the franchise, characters and FANS we love,” Johnson wrote.
The new film allows Universal to extend the life of a franchise spanning more than two decades, one that was seemingly coming to an end. Over the course of 10 films, the franchise has made more than $7 billion at the worldwide box office. And the latest episode, Fast Xopened to number one worldwide with $320 million earlier in May, becoming the second-biggest global opening of 2023. It crossed the $500 million mark in its second weekend.
Johnson is reprised by WME and Gang Tire.
—Aaron Couch contributed to this story.
