The fans have wanted to see it for years, some of the key creative driving forces behind the franchise have admitted it’s a possibility on more than one occasion and Ludacris, Michelle Rodriguez and Vin Diesel all hinted that it was about to happen, but Fast & Furious 9 director Justin Lin has finally confirmed once and for all that the next installment in the blockbuster series is heading to outer space.
Of course, it looked like a foregone conclusion given the end of the latest trailer that dropped earlier today, which saw Ludacris’ Tej and Tyrese’s Roman Pearce wearing what looked like spacesuits as they found themselves strapped to a rocket that takes off in midair. It’s exactly the sort of preposterous development that makes Fast & Furious so popular, and besides, there was literally nowhere else for the gang to go after they’ve destroyed every imaginable Earthbound mode of transport over the last 20 years.
In a new interview, Lin admitted that it’s an idea he’s been toying with for a while, but when he sat down to crack F9‘s story with Vin Diesel, the duo decided that now is the perfect time for the crew to boldly go where no former street racers have ever gone before.
“I think through the years, part of the fun is to come up with crazy ideas to challenge ourselves. But I have to say, we never do it just for sake of shock value. It always takes something from the theme or the character journey. I can say that when I was working on Fast 9, there was a thread that felt very appropriate to take us to places that we’ve never gone to. I drove to Vin’s house and I sat down with him and we looked at each other and we were like, ‘Okay, this is the one. This is the one that we’re going to try’. And it felt very appropriate. So, I kind of can’t wait to share with the world, because the more we push and do crazier stunts and set-pieces, the more we have to check ourselves to make sure we earn that.”
Relating it to character development and underlying themes is an interesting thing to note, because those are definitely two areas that the Fast & Furious brand has hardly been renowned for. What the series does deliver is the biggest, loudest and most ridiculous action epics imaginable that throw all semblance of logic, common sense and gravity out of the window, which is what makes them some of the most entertaining big budget movies around.
