5 Futures For FAST & FURIOUS Franchise
The FAST & FURIOUS franchise is such a weird series when taken as a whole. It started out as a blatant POINT BREAK ripoff, then became a crime series, then action spectacle, and the last two (FATE OF THE FURIOUS and F9: THE FAST SAGA) are just bonkers weirdness that essentially careens into sci-fi territory. This global endeavor involving human computers and familial blood feuds literally started with a small gang stealing TV/VCR combos and DVD players. What range!
But where should they go next? Yeah, Brie Larson and Jason Momoa were cast in the next entry, FAST X, that’s due to be released in 2023. Dwayne Johnson is essentially out of this franchise (or at least will only appear in installments that don’t feature Vin Diesel). But where do you take this story and these characters who have gone from drag racing in L.A. to space? What’s left to explore? Here are five possible paths for FAST & FURIOUS sequels.
Musical
Hear me out! With the massive success of RRR, it’s been proven that folks are willing to go out to see major bombastic action complete with musical numbers and impressive dance sequences. These movies already have musicians in it, be it Tyrese, Ludacris, Larson, or even Diesel himself (he sang, technically, in FIND ME GUILTY). It needn’t be an opera where every line is a lyric, but just some intermittent song breaks. The car stunts already feature impressive choreography—why not set it to a beat and use that rhythm to produce some ridiculous spectacle? Ang Lee already showed how this could be accomplished in his installment of the 2001 series/BMW commercials The Hire (see below), where cars weave around each other with the grace of ballerinas. Throw in some rap battles, explosions, and lengthy diatribes about family…and brother, you got a FAST & FURIOUS musical that will beat the band.
Kaiju
Who do you call when giant monsters appear and terrorize the innocent citizens of Earth? I mean, you should call various armies and other military services to confront them…but those folks don’t live their lives a quarter mile at a time!
With very little handwaving about some science breakthrough or experiment in acceleration, it would be easy to explain away something causes massive exponential growth in creatures and now it’s up to our ragtag racers to take them out using only cars and Coronas. Having some suped up Camaro deliver bombs into the mouths of these kaiju would be wicked fun, plus the series has always highlighted destruction to underscore the stakes and intensity of the situation. You could also have a giant vehicle straight out of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers to take on these creatures, while showing the power of family working together.
M.A.S.K.
Let’s be perfectly frank here: FAST & FURIOUS is essentially M.A.S.K. except without the, well, masks. And the clearly defined opposing evil organization. But otherwise it’s this group of specialized individuals using their tricked out vehicles to solve situations that seem like they’d be better addressed with something other than a car. For those not familiar, M.A.S.K. was an ‘80s cartoon show and here’s the intro:
Right? Same damn series. That makes it pretty easy to adapt FAST & FURIOUS into this over-the-top cartoon event. Just provide some high tech costumes to our favorite action heroes and set up an actual antagonistic group like M.A.S.K.’s enemy V.E.N.O.M. — which F&F basically set up with characters played by Thue Ersted Rasmussen and Charlize Theron in F9: THE FAST SAGA. Imagine Michelle Rodriguez rocking some weird ass diving helmet or Sung Kang in some sort of robotic monstrosity on his head.
STEALTH
You can also consider this the TERMINATOR track as well. I’m genuinely shocked F&F hasn’t gone this route with some A.I.-controlled vehicle gaining sentience and turning on people. Can humans with all their flaws possibly out drive and out smart these perfect machines? Of course they can. With drone technology and self-driving cars, this seems like a layup that ties to the tone of the franchise with the very tools that it constantly utilizes. You can destroy a bunch of enemies without worrying about the human death toll, have all sorts of futuristic designs for cars, and continue the themes of the series that the power of love is stronger than any other force in the world.
For those that don’t know, with good reason, STEALTH was a 2005 film where Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biel, and Josh Lucas go up against a sentient robot plane. The twist that makes this an even better fit for F&F? STEALTH was directed by Rob Cohen…who also directed the first FAST AND FURIOUS movie back in 2001.
Time Travel
THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI, BACK TO THE FUTURE, and TIMECOP all utilized vehicles to travel through time, so why not bring that to the franchise most associated with cars? You can have the gang steal some prototype automotive or special device or whatever, and then bip bam boom, a handful of them wind up in the future. And that’s where the options explode!
It could be a DEATH RACE 2000 situation where a fascistic government uses bloodsports to distract and mollify the populace as the grease monkey gladiators kill each other for entertainment. Or it could be a real DUNE-ish fantasy bend (to appease noted D&D dork Diesel) where the House Toretto is in a decades long war against other Houses like Shaw or something. There’s the obvious MAD MAX angle with a desolate world ruled by crazed drivers. Or even get weirder with it and combine FAST & FURIOUS with CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK as two Diesels and friends have to fight some aliens and bounty hunters. You can have old versions of familiar characters, introduce descendants of our FAST families…the possibilities are endless!