It’s not a coincidence that Fast Five was both the instalment where the Fast & Furious saga rocket-boosted into joyous absurdity, and also the one that brought Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson into the fray. Originally introduced as an antagonist to the Family (as every future Fast Family member is), his Agent Luke Hobbs provided a major injection of ridiculous dialogue and action muscle to the franchise – but while family is everything in the Fast universe, it seems that those bonds can indeed be broken. Having not appeared in Fast & Furious 9 (after friction among the cast on Fast 8, and spinning off into co-headline status in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), Johnson has recently stated that he won’t be back in the upcoming double-bill of Fast 10 and Fast 11 either.
It all comes back, it seems, to the epic “candy-ass” saga that erupted behind the scenes of Fast & Furious 8 – a war of words that played out across social media when Johnson posted a (fast and) furious comment on his Instagram condemning the behaviour of a co-star (largely believed to be Vin Diesel) on set. Two years or so ago, olive branches were seemingly extended on each side – but recently, Diesel gave an interview claiming the “tough love” he gave on the Fast set was all about, er, getting better performances out of people (read: Johnson) which might have blown the whole thing wide open again. Now, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Johnson responded to Diesel’s comments and stated he won’t be back in the family any time soon. “I laughed and I laughed hard,” he said of Diesel’s recent interview statement. “I think everyone had a laugh at that. And I’ll leave it at that. And that I’ve wished them well. I wish them well on Fast 9. And I wish them the best of luck on Fast 10 and Fast 11 and the rest of the Fast & Furious movies they do that will be without me.”
If Johnson really is done with the Fast franchise, that’ll be a huge shame – for a decade now, he’s been a hugely fun part of the series, and while Fast 9 was all kinds of entertaining insanity, his absence was felt, with other cast members left to provide levity while Diesel continues to take it all incredibly seriously. If he won’t be back in the sequels though, how about we get a Hobbs & Shaw follow-up instead – and let’s stick Sung Kang’s returned Han Seoul-Oh in there too while we’re at it, huh?