There are very few rules in the Fast & Furious movies. The laws of gravity need not apply. Death is never the end (hello, once again, Han Seoul-Oh!). There are no problems that can’t be fixed by car-based shenanigans. But there are two central tenets of the Fast Saga – first, that it’s all about family, and second, that said family always celebrates surviving mad missions by holding BBQs stacked with Corona beer. Which made it all the more shocking when Fast 8 saw the gang instead drinking Budweisers and Stella Artois.
Thankfully, it looks like this hiccup is no longer the case for Fast & Furious 9, which has just dropped a ridiculous, action-packed third trailer. There are more magnet shenanigans. There’s more of Dominic Toretto’s surprise evil brother Jakob (John Cena). And – of course – a rocket-car. But the first thing that Empire caught up with director Justin Lin about was the return of the Family’s favourite beer.
“It was just very organic,” says Lin of Corona’s return to the Fast Saga. “I think it was not even a choice. When I came back, we talked about it – I do whatever’s best for our family and our characters. When I left, they were all drinking Corona, and so they should be drinking Corona!”
Away from the all-important choice of beer, the new Fast 9 trailer hints once again at the series’ apparent final frontier. With Tej and Roman flying a car with rocket-boosters attached, could the family finally be heading to… space? “I went and visited Vin, and we looked at each other and we said, ‘Alright, this is it – this is the one, because we finally have earned it’,” says Lin of the flying-car finale. “Once we made that commitment, I was on the phone with a lot of confused rocket scientists trying to learn the physics of things, and it definitely created some really fun conversations.”
But fear not – despite the trailer's three-minute runtime, Lin says there’s still plenty that will surprise us all when Fast 9 finally hits the big screen. “A lot of the time as a filmmaker, you’re so scared because you’re like, ‘Oh my god, are they giving away the whole movie?!’ And I can promise you, even with these two long trailers, there’s still a lot that we have not shared with the world.” See you in the cinema this summer, Fast gang – you bring the Coronas.