If Vin Diesel had kept his mouth shut, then there was always a chance Dwayne Johnson could have returned to the main Fast & Furious franchise for the concluding tenth and eleventh chapters. He’d publicly resolved his differences with both Diesel and Tyrese, but then the longtime Dominic Toretto pissed off The Rock.
The leading man and producer claimed that their long-running feud was a masterplan he devised to draw out the best possible performance from his fellow huge bald dude, and Johnson called bullsh*t on it when asked in a recent interview, where he finally addressed his future as part of the family, and it wasn’t the news fans were looking for.
After Jason Statham made a mid-credits cameo in F9, that also had people wondering about what the future held for Hobbs & Shaw. The spinoff earned in excess of $750 million at the box office before a sequel was placed into development the following year, only for producer Kelly McCormick to admit it wouldn’t be happening for a while.
Now, Seven Bucks President of Production Hiram Garcia has weighed in, confirming that Johnson is officially done with Fast & Furious. However, he did offer an encouraging update by revealing that Hobbs & Shaw 2 is still very much on the agenda.
“At the moment we’re trying to figure out what that sequel is going to be, but we have some very big ideas. After filming Fast 8 DJ made the clear decision to close the Fast & Furious chapter for all the evident reasons. He wished them all well and shifted our focus on to other story telling avenues. So while he will not be in F10 or F11, that won’t in any way interfere with our Hobbs plans. Obviously all these characters exist in the Fast universe and we love to see all aspects of that universe thrive and succeed. We just have specific plans for what we want to do with the Hobbs character and I think the fans are going to love it! We’re working to deliver something very unique and fresh and we know the studio is eager for us to get into it ASAP!”
Outside of the title heroes and Helen Mirren’s Queenie, Hobbs & Shaw didn’t possess too much obvious connective tissue to The Fast Saga, so Johnson dropping out of the original series won’t impact either brand too much in the long run. Once parts ten and eleven are released, we might even see some cast members cross over, but we can guarantee that Vin Diesel isn’t going to be one of them.