Dwayne Johnson has made it perfectly clear that he won’t be returning to the main Fast & Furious franchise as Luke Hobbs, although he remains committed to the idea of continuing the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff series alongside Jason Statham.
It’s become increasingly obvious that Vin Diesel is more than likely the main reason behind his decision to avoid the concluding tenth and eleventh chapters, but the longtime Dominic Toretto made one last plea to try and bring his old co-star back into the fold.
As a result, the internet laid into the tank top enthusiast after he brought up both his own children and the death of Paul Walker in a desperate attempt to change Johnson’s mind, but The Rock saw right through it. Speaking to CNN, the Black Adam star said what everyone was already thinking when he blasted Diesel’s transparent plea.
“I told [Diesel] directly that I would not be returning to the franchise. I was firm yet cordial with my words and said that I would always be supportive of the cast and always root for the franchise to be successful, but that there was no chance I would return. Vin’s recent public post was an example of his manipulation. I didn’t like that he brought up his children in the post, as well as Paul Walker’s death. Leave them out of it. We had spoken months ago about this and came to a clear understanding.”
The ninth installment in The Fast Saga clearly didn’t need Johnson to thrive after earning $726 million at a pandemic-riddled box office, but Diesel invoking his own family and Walker’s death to try and coerce Johnson back into the fold made a lot of folks feel a little queasy. Clearly, the world’s highest-paid actor is in agreement with those sentiments, and his Fast & Furious tenure is definitively over as a result.