Dave Bautista recently revealed that he turned down the opportunity to talk to Universal about a role in the Fast & Furious franchise, which might have to do with the fact that his old in-ring rivals Dwayne Johnson and John Cena have each boarded the sprawling saga, and he’s clearly gone out of his way to avoid comparisons to Hollywood’s other premiere wrestlers-turned-actors.
He also knocked back the chance to star in The Suicide Squad in favor of Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, even though the role of Peacemaker was written specifically for him by his friend and Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, so it’s a little ironic that the part ended up going to Cena in the end, who even got his own HBO Max spinoff out of the deal.
Insider Daniel Richtman has been insistent in claiming that Bautista is on his way back to Netflix’s undead universe, touting that not only will the 52 year-old be returning for the sequel, but he’ll also be established as the face of the entire brand despite the notable roadblock of being shot in the head first time out, which the tipster said would be dealt with “somehow”.
In another slice of even more vague speculation, Richtman is now saying that Bautista wants Army of the Dead to be his Fast & Furious, but doesn’t go to the lengths of explaining what that’s actually supposed to mean. There are pretty much zero direct comparisons that can be made between an R-rated apocalyptic zombie blockbuster that debuted last month where the leading man died, and a PG-13 string of nine movies and spinoff that’s been rolling on for 20 years, other than an ensemble cast indulging in some heightened reality antics, so make of that what you will.
