Fast & Furious 11 Won’t End The Franchise – But Can It Work Without Dom?

While it is likely that the Fast & Furious franchise will continue past Fast & Furious 11 in the form of spinoffs or reboots, nothing guarantees that future movies can work without Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto. After many promises of “one last ride,” the Fast & Furious saga approaches its end with Fast X and its follow-up – a two-part story set to conclude the journey that started in the original movie, The Fast and The Furious, back in 2001. However, potential Fast & Furious projects have been discussed, suggesting that Universal is open to continuing their hugely successful IP.

Despite being close to its final chapter, the Fast & Furious movies are not afraid of adding new important characters played by up-and-coming Hollywood stars as well as iconic screen veterans. For example, after 20 years following the story of Dom Toretto and his family, F9: The Fast Saga revealed that there was a lost Toretto brother, Jakob, played by John Cena. The fact that such a crucial part of Dom and his sister, Mia’s life was only written into the story after nine movies reveals how the Fast & Furious franchise is always open for changes, especially if it means adding new talent. Or resurrecting or elevating previously utilized characters, such as Sung Kang’s Han and Helen Mirren’s Queenie. Any of these side characters could carry the IP forth with offshoots, a la 2019’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.

While the early years of the Fast & Furious franchise were not particularly remarkable in terms of box office, Fast Five‘s epic-scale heist movie marked a turning point in the Fast & Furious movies and their worldwide success. Two of the most recent Fast & Furious movies crossed $1 billion at the global box office, and F9 managed to make $726 million despite releasing during the pandemic. With Universal likely wanting to keep the franchise going, a Hobbs & Shaw sequel and previously discussed spinoffs like a Cipher movie and an all-female Fast & Furious team, or a new project entirely are all possible. That said, the Fast & Furious name alone might not be enough to bring the same amount of success for potential spinoffs and reboots, since much of what makes the Fast & Furious movies work so well is Vin Diesel’s star power.

Fast & Furious Can Continue Past Dominic Toretto (But Won’t Be As Big)

Even before the Fast & Furious franchise ends, there is already an indication of how well it can perform without Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto. In 2019, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham starred in their own eponymous Fast & Furious spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw, bringing back the fun dynamic between Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw from The Fate of the Furious. Hobbs & Shaw made $760 million at the box office worldwide, a result that, while better than a lot of franchises can achieve, was not as big as Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, or The Fate of the Furious. Not even the star power of both Johnson and Statham was enough to match the best box office grosses of the main Fast & Furious movies, which goes to show how important Diesel and the main Dom storyline are to the saga.

All of that considered, the movies can definitely continue past Fast & Furious 11. However, it would not be reasonable to expect that such spinoffs or reboots perform as well as the Dominic Toretto saga, at least not right away. Still, if the Fast & Furious spinoffs perform as well as Hobbs & Shaw did, then there will be no reason not to keep the Fast & Furious franchise alive on the big screen.