Helen Mirren might be a legend of the stage and screen with a career that’s spanned well over 50 years and left her with a trophy cabinet packed to bursting point with an Academy Award, three Golden Globes, four Emmys, four BAFTAs, five Screen Actors Guild awards, an Olivier and a Tony to name just a small few, but anyone that’s seen the two RED movies knows that she’s also more than capable of being a badass action hero.
Indeed, the 75 year-old was a surprising but hugely welcome addition to the Fast & Furious franchise as Magdalene Shaw, head of the family that’s proven to be both allies and adversaries to Dom Toretto and his crew over the last several installments with Jason Statham’s Deckard, Luke Evans’ Owen and Vanessa Kirby’s Hattie all playing major roles in the last few entries.
Mirren hasn’t had the greatest amount of screen time so far, but fans have been holding out hope for a while that she’d eventually step up to the plate and get involved in one of Fast & Furious‘ signature set pieces, which she admitted was the entire reason she signed up in the first place. Thankfully, then, Vin Diesel has now confirmed that the actress who once played the Queen will get behind the wheel and burn some rubber in a $200 million blockbuster, which is quite frankly fantastic news.
“Again, without giving away any spoilers. You know what, I’m going to give you a spoiler. Yes, she gets to drive. It’s so awesome. She gets to drive and she gets to drive sleek.”
Of course, Diesel is no stranger to hanging out with acclaimed British thespians having taught Judi Dench how to play Dungeons & Dragons on the set of The Chronicles of Riddick, but Helen Mirren’s involvement in Fast & Furious 9 is definitely going to be a lot more hands on, which is long overdue given that it’ll mark her third appearance in the franchise.