The Fast & Furious franchise is set to draw to a close with the back to back tenth and eleventh installments, with series veteran Justin Lin bringing the main saga to an end after 20 years, ten sequels and billions of box office dollars. However, just because Dominic Toretto and his crew are out of the picture, it doesn’t mean that the property is riding off into the sunset.
The Fast Saga recently delivered its first spinoff in Hobbs & Shaw, which earned over $750 million globally to prove that the brand can still pull in huge numbers even without Vin Diesel and the rest of the core crew, although it definitely helped that it was a big budget buddy blockbuster with Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in the lead roles.
Johnson revealed a while ago that a sequel had entered active development, but in a new interview, producer Kelly McCormick, wife and business partner of Hobbs & Shaw director David Leitch, admitted that fans shouldn’t expect to see it anytime soon given the hectic schedules of the major players.
“Everybody’s really busy on that particular franchise. I mean, who’s busier than Dwayne Johnson? And, he’s critical to the project. We’re just waiting to hear, to be honest. I think it’s something that would be awesome to continue, but I think everybody’s just been so busy working on projects in the COVID of it all, that we’re still waiting to hear. There’s a lot of excitement to try to make something.”
The Coronavirus pandemic has caused scheduling conflicts all over Hollywood, and the Hobbs & Shaw sequel is no different. Johnson is prepping to shoot the DCEU’s Black Adam, while Statham is busy with Guy Ritchie thriller Five Eyes. Leitch, meanwhile, is currently hard at work on his next feature Bullet Train, and he’s also attached to helm vampiric graphic novel adaptation Undying Love.
Given the continued popularity of the expanded Fast & Furious universe, we’re definitely getting Hobbs & Shaw 2Â one day, but it could be a good couple of years yet until cameras start rolling given how in-demand the principal cast and crew members are at the moment.
