While the feud between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson may not be totally over, their reunion in the remaining Fast & Furious films is inevitable. The Fast Saga is down to its final stretch; Fast & Furious 9 kicked off the franchise’s final trilogy, with its last two movies functioning as a two-part finale. Given that, expect a culmination of everything that has happened in the film series thus far, which could include characters from past Fast & Furious films potentially making an appearance.
This trend has already started in F9 with the return of Han Lue (Sung Kang). After years of his presumed death, the latest The Fast Saga film revealed that he survived Deckard Shaw’s (Jason Statham) murder attempt and faked his death with the help of Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) to keep him safe. After that, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that other characters will eventually be involved in the upcoming movies, including Luke Hobbs. Debuting in Fast Five as a US Diplomatic Security Service agent tapped to take down Dominic Torreto and his crew, Johnson’s character eventually joined forces with the “la familia.” Since then, Hobbs has appeared in four Fast & Furious movies.
However, after Fate of the Furious, Hobbs has carved his own path by launching his own spin-off in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, effectively separating his personal arc from the main saga. But it’s safe to say that he will ultimately team up with Toretto in either Fast & Furious 10 or 11, despite Johnson and Diesel’s supposedly ongoing feud. The conflict between the actors has been well-documented starting all the way back to 2016. In the lead-up of F9, it seemed like they finally patched things up, with Diesel posting an image of him and his co-star from Fast Five; that may not be the case, however. More recently, Johnson addressed Diesel’s comments about having to give him tough love on the set by saying he just laughed it off. This has been taken as an indication that there’s still bad blood between the pair. The real-life drama never translated on the big screen though, with Toretto and Hobbs still on good terms the last they were together. And considering The Fast Saga’s core theme of family, it’s difficult to imagine that it will end without them teaming up once again.
So, how could their paths cross again? By having a common enemy. After F9, it’s clear that Cipher (Charlize Theron) will be the overall villain of Fast & Furious 10 and 11. If she’s somehow connected to the mysterious organization that Hobbs and Shaw fought in Eteon, bridging the current gap between the main line of movies and its spin-off will be much easier. For what it’s worth, Toretto has maintained contact with Deckard’s mother, Queenie (Helen Mirren), who helped him in his recent bout with Jakob (John Cena) in F9. This in itself could be how the “la familia” ultimately reaches Hobbs for another team-up. However director Justin Lin and Universal want to play this out, it’s clear that there are ways to bring Toretto and Hobbs together, and not doing so could lead to lingering questions that might derail their plans for a satisfying finale.
Finally, bringing big Hollywood stars in Johnson and Diesel for the Fast & Furious finale is a great marketing strategy for Universal. While long-time fans of the Fast Saga will undoubtedly be interested in seeing how the franchise caps of the arc of the “la familia,” it also wouldn’t hurt that the blockbusters assemble a star-studded cast. That way, even those who may not be particularly invested in the movies could be enticed to watch since it stars two of the most recognizable actors in the industry at this point.
