Dominic Toretto is looking his usual broody self in a new poster for Fast & Furious 9, or as it’s now being referred to in some marketing, F9.
The image was shared over the weekend by Vin Diesel, who accompanied his Instagram post with the short caption:
“Your creativity inspires…”
Right now, hype levels are pretty high for the ninth main installment in the decades-spanning Fast Saga, with the film’s first trailer earning more than half a billion views after dropping late last month.
Though the reception to 2017’s The Fate of the Furious was a little mixed from fans and critics alike, one thing this next movie has on its side is the return of director Justin Lin, who helped reinvent the property as a globe-hopping blockbuster franchise with his work on the third, fourth, fifth and sixth films.
It also doesn’t hurt that Sung Kang reprises his role as Han Lue, placating the many fans who felt that Dom’s old friend got a raw deal when he was removed from the series at the end of Fast & Furious 6.
How exactly F9 will explain away Han’s supposed death remains to be seen. But in a time where almost every major franchise seems to have a five-year plan, there’s something quite refreshing about the way the Fast Saga so transparently makes it all up as it goes along, even if it means the occasional retcon.
As for Dom, it looks like the series regular will be going up against his brother Jakob, played by John Cena. You can expect this family reunion to involve plenty of physics-defying spectacle and testosterone-heavy one-liners when Fast & Furious 9 hits theaters on May 22nd.