It’s going on 16 years since The Fast and the Furious made its humble debut in theaters and in those intervening years, Universal’s gleefully over-the-top street racing drama has gone on to become a global phenomenon – not bad for a film that was initially written off as ‘Point Break with cars.’
Six movies later and we arrive on the verge of The Fate of the Furious, F. Gary Gray’s action-packed sequel set to spark a mini civil war from within Universal’s dysfunctional family. In short: Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), seemingly under the influence of Charlize Theron’s Cipher, walks out on his nearest and dearest in their most desperate hour, spawning a series of blockbuster set-pieces each more preposterous than the last.
Indeed, if each entry into the franchise aims to top the spectacle seen in its predecessor, The Fate of the Furious looks set to go that one step further by having Dwayne Johnson’s Hobbs altering the course of a speeding torpedo with his bare hands. His bare hands!
It’s the textbook example of a popcorn movie embracing its own sense of ridiculousness, and the Fast and Furious faithful have been left wondering how things will pan out between Dom and the rest of the gang when the sequel crashes into theaters next week. But if there’s one member of that tight-knit crew that is sorely missed, it’s Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang). Han originally bit the bullet in Tokyo Drift, but the Powers That Be reshuffled the franchise’s timeline ever so slightly to allow Kang’s fan-favorite to star alongside Dom and Co. once more.
That loop closed with the launch of Fast and Furious 6, but as screenwriter Chris Morgan told /Film, the possibility of Han appearing once more isn’t out of the question.
Now, that’s funny because I’ve actually been thinking about that a lot. So it’s interesting that you and I are on the same wavelength there. But I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out. I love Sung – he’s one of my favorite people on the planet.
Can we expect to see Han Seoul-Oh crop up in Fast and Furious 9? Or perhaps Universal will earmark the character for a potential standalone pic? It’s far too soon to tell, but we can at least take solace in one thing: Sung Kang’s ice-cool figure may be gone, but he certainly hasn’t been forgotten.
The Fate of the Furious, on the other hand, will be with us on April 14th.