The logic behind the Fast & Furious franchise has never really made a great deal of sense, but that’s actually a huge part of the appeal of the long-running series. Audiences turn up, turn off their brains and know exactly what to expect when it comes to the adventures of Dominic Toretto and his extended dysfunctional family.
At various points over the two decades that Fast & Furious has been gracing our screens, there’s been plenty of plot developments that would have seen many other franchises jumping the shark as gravity and common sense have become an afterthought, but this approach has only seen the box office numbers of the most recent installments increase.
Universal have even moved into spinoff territory, with Hobbs & Shaw earning over $750 million globally to launch a new revenue stream that runs parallel to The Fast Saga, and star Dwayne Johnson recently confirming that a sequel is officially in the works. Idris Elba’s cybernetically-enhanced villain Brixton even introduced sci-fi elements into the universe, which surely means we aren’t far away from the Fast and Furious in Space movie that everybody wants.
As well as boasting two of the action genre’s biggest names in the title roles, Hobbs & Shaw also featured plenty of star power thanks to Johnson’s buddies Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart showing up for extended cameo appearances. But it seems the studio isn’t stopping there and now have their eye on another A-lister who they hope to have join the franchise.
According to our sources – the same ones who told us Han was returning in Fast & Furious 9 and Reynolds had a cameo in Hobbs & Shaw, not to mention that John Cena is playing Vin Diesel’s brother in F9 – Universal are planning on introducing a new character soon and they’re interested in none other than Tom Cruise – or someone of a similar level of fame if they can’t get him – for the part. Apparently, the plan is for him to show up in the closing moments of Hobbs & Shaw 2 as a set-up for future appearances.
It’s unclear what role this would be, but it seems likely that it’s the Eteon Director, which Keanu Reeves was originally in negotiations for. However, the John Wick star is currently experiencing scheduling conflicts of his own, and while nothing is set in stone as of yet, the studio seem determined to land an A-lister to play the shadowy villain of the Hobbs & Shaw series. Then again, this role could be something else entirely, but if we had to guess, it might just be for the Eteon Director, and we’d certainly love to see Cruise tackle the part.
