Not unlike James Wan before him, Straight Outta Compton filmmaker F. Gary Gray had a monumental task on his hands upon taking the reins of The Fate of the Furious.
The sequel formerly known as Fast 8 shouldered a huge weight of expectation prior to release because of Paul Walker’s tragic and untimely death – even if Universal considered incorporating a CG Brian O’Connor a la Peter Cushing in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – and it’s a testimony to both Gray and his crew that the pic managed to carve out a new chapter in the studio’s petrolhead franchise, all the while collecting a whopping $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office.
Beyond the mainline series, though, there are also plans to extend the franchise in exciting new directions via spinoffs. Details are still scarce at this early stage, but we do know that there’s one in the works revolving around Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and according to The Wrap, Deadpool 2 director David Leitch is being eyed to helm it.
From what we understand, the filmmaker isn’t locked in just yet, but he is said to be the frontrunner and given that he has history working with Jason Statham on multiple projects, who’ll be co-starring alongside Johnson, it looks likely that this will happen. Elsewhere, longtime F&F scribe Chris Morgan is back on board to pen the script and apparently, it’ll see “once-upon-a-time villain Deckard Shaw teaming with U.S. Diplomatic Security Agent Luke Hobbs.”
What exactly they’ll be up to or who else from the franchise may join them is currently unknown, but either way, it’s clear that the future is looking bright for The Fast & Furious series, even despite those reports of the ninth instalment being delayed, and as two of the most electrifying actors in Hollywood today, we’re thrilled to see what Johnson and Statham can do with their own spinoff. Especially if an equally electrifying director in the form of David Leitch should sign on.
