With a worldwide haul of $685 million and climbing, The Fate of the Furious is currently the biggest movie on the planet, and in a bid to strike while the iron is piping hot, Universal is purportedly pushing full steam ahead with a spinoff movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham’s warring anti-heroes.
Deadline has the scoop, which claims that franchise architect Chris Morgan is the brains behind the script, one that forces US Diplomatic Security Agent Luke Hobbs to “form an unlikely alliance with Statham’s Deckard Shaw.” Essentially, it’ll build on the foundations laid down in F. Gary Gray’s blockbuster sequel, wherein Dwayne Johnson’s musclebound Hobbs turns to Shaw in a last-ditch attempt to bring Vin Diesel’s rogue Dominic Toretto back from the brink and, ultimately, make the Fast family whole once more.
Considering that Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham were initially drafted into the franchise as antagonists, before forging an uneasy alliance with the Toretto crew, Universal’s plan to engineer a Hobbs/Shaw spinoff is an interesting avenue to take. Deadline notes that this could be the first in a series of character-driven offshoots, so if you were ever under the illusion that Universal would retire its box office juggernaut after the release of Fast and Furious 10 in 2021, think again. One character to crop up in conversation is the ice-cool Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang), but can the Fast series find room in its increasingly convoluted timeline to bring back Sung Kang’s fan-favorite? Time will tell.
For now, Hobbs and Shaw are tip-top of the priority list for Universal. It makes sense, too, particularly after The Fate of the Furious stormed all the way to a record-shattering $532.5 million, but what’s your knee-jerk reaction to these spinoff plans? As always, let us know in the usual place.
