I’m not ashamed to admit I absolutely love the Fast & Furious movie franchise. The first few came out during my formative years and helped to set in stone my passion for cars, which has led me to this wonderful career. While the later films have devolved from the core street-racing themes of the original, I still find them entertaining, even if they are, at times, comically over the top.
I’m not the only person who enjoys the Fast movies, obviously. The series has banked over $7.3 billion at the box office over 10 feature films, making it one of the most successful franchises of all time. The 11th and final film, Fast Forever, is set to hit theaters on March 17, 2028, closing the door on the story of Dominic Torreto and his “family” after 27 years. But that won’t be the end for the Fast & Furious brand.
Vin Diesel, star of the series, announced on Monday during an NBCUniversal presentation in New York that a Fast & Furious spin-off television series was officially in the works. Here’s what he had to say, per Variety:
“For the last decade, we have realized that the fans have wanted more,” Diesel said. “They wanted us to expand the legacy characters, their stories. And for the last decade, the desire has been for us to enter the TV space that Fallon has mastered. And I had to wait till it was right… It became right when Donna Langley started to oversee it all, because that’s when I knew that the integrity of the characters, the international appeal, what makes us all feel like family would be protected in the TV space… The news that I have here today is that Peacock is launching four shows from the ‘Fast and Furious’ universe.”
I’m sorry, did he say four shows are being launched? That seems a bit over the top, even for something as outlandish as the Fast & Furious franchise. It sounds like Variety had the same reaction, so it asked someone in the know, who confirmed that Diesel got a bit ahead of himself:
While Diesel said that four shows were in the works, an individual with knowledge of the situation confirmed it is, in fact, only one. Others are said to be in various stages of development at Universal TV.
As for what characters or plotlines would be making the jump from the big screen to your living room, that’s not clear right now. Diesel says the show will “honor the legacy” of the films, but aside from that, we’re in the dark on what to expect.
There are, at least, some big names attached to the show behind the scenes. Diesel will executive produce alongside Samantha Vincent, who executive-produced Fast films four through ten. Mike Daniels, best-known for producing Sons of Anarchy, will write the pilot episode, per Deadline. He and Wolfe Coleman will serve as the series’s showrunners.
Being a Universal property, the show is set to debut on Universal, though a timeline for production isn’t clear just yet. This latest Fast TV series wouldn’t be the first spinoff to wear the Fast & Furious name—don’t forget, Netflix had the animated show Fast & Furious Spy Racers, which ran for six whole seasons from 2019 to 2021.
Universal pouring money into another spinoff feels like a no-brainer. As Diesel pointed out, even if the main storyline is coming to a close, there are still millions upon millions of fans of the Fast franchise that are craving more action-packed stories that are at least tangentially related to cars. Why not capitalize on those desires through any avenue possible?
And it’s not likely that the Fast & Furious brand will be out of theaters for good. Universal already made one spin-off movie in 2019, Hobbs & Shaw, which brought in $760 million at the box office alone. If I were a studio exec being pressured to make as much money as possible, I’d certainly consider that.
Whether the show will be any good is another story. It’s likely some side characters could reprise their roles, but from the sounds of it, I don’t think Diesel is making an on-screen return. So long as there are lots of cool cars and action, I’m going to be watching. Will you? Let me know in the comments.
Top graphic image: DepositPhotos.com; Universal Pictures
I don’t like those movies, but to each their own. It just annoys me that movie formulas are getting so refined that money comes in on one side and franchises comes out on the next, making all the money. At least FF movies generate some cultural impact, unlike, say, Avatar, that apparently suck money out people’s wallets without leaving any memories after the movie ends.
I wonder if you know,
How they live in Tokyo…
The only thing I can blame Tokyo Drift for is that it sorta smothered Andrew Lau’s Initial D movie (the movie, not the anime), which was that hidden gem that keeps on shining.
Then again, it’s better that both exist rather than none of them.
PS: In the Tokyo Drift’s urban car chase just before things went south, there’s the fromt of a Scion/Yaris-like red pocket rocket emergency braking to avoid a crash, and to this day I can’t figure out wohat it is. Red front with white wheels.
I’ll believe it when it actually airs. Remember all the Game of Thrones spin-offs that were planned immediately after the final season? Most of those got cancelled before they even got off the ground and it took years to get House of the Dragon.
Why is it taking so long to get the final movie out? This is like Stranger Things level of waiting where I feel more interested with it being over than actually excited. They’re probably doing an AI Brian to bring everything full circle.
I kept hoping they’d circle closer to reality, but instead it ended up with a duct-tape Fiero in space.
It’s not entertainment, it’s audience abuse.
Damn, I hate these movies. My best hope is that when Diesel said four shows, he really meant four episodes, although if it’s a streaming only series, that’s fine as it can reach its many fans without bothering the rest of us.
There’s already a cartoon series on Netflix with 6 seasons already.https://www.netflix.com/title/80225085
Can’t wait to see “The Slow and the Cranky” in 2057 when Vin Diesel is 90 and they’re all racing electric wheelchairs in a nursing home
They already did a (manual) wheelchair race in Days of Thunder.
Perfect timing with the recent NASA moon mission. Will the new moon buggy be FWD or AWD?
A Fast and Furious TV show? Sounds like Family friendly show
Every time Mr. Toretto talks about “family”, I think of this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7opqN63CfI
We should all strive to be a part of The Family.
Tokyo Drift is my favorite of all the F&F movies, and I’d love to see them do more on the Japanese car scene, though Tokyo Drift is very aughts-coded and a lot of it probably wouldn’t translate well in 2026.
Monica. What’s her story?
MONICAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I mean there are other planets, dimensions or maybe they’ll do a Tron cross-over! They can race through all of those!
Multiverse episodes, bring on the Marvel crossover to revive another franchise that’s running low on ideas for good movies.
Holy BJ and the Bear, Batman.