Those of us who sat through the credits after two hours of middling, though enjoyable action in Fast X got a bit of a surprise. A teaser scene at the end of the film revealed the return of Dwayne Johnson to the Fast & Furious franchise after his infamous falling out with Vin Diesel. It was unclear what his return actually meant, but now we know. Dwayne Johnson will star in a bridge movie as Hobbs that will come out before Fast & Furious 11 and act as a kind of “Fast X.5.”
Hope you’ve got your funderwear on…
HOBBS IS BACK.
And he just got lei’d 🌺😈Luke Hobbs will be returning to the Fast & Furious franchise.
Your reactions around the world to Hobbs’ return in Fast X have blown us away 🤯🙏🏾🌍
The next Fast & Furious film you’ll see the… pic.twitter.com/vvtBgTBOnl
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) June 1, 2023
It should be clear that the film will not be a Hobbs & Shaw sequel. That movie saw Johnson team up with Jason Statham for an over-the-top action flick that ended with a promise of more sequels. However, after Johnson’s falling out with Diesel during filming of Fate of the Furious and some underperformance at the box office, Universal put the spinoff franchise on hold indefinitely. Now, it seems that Johnson has buried the hatchet with Diesel, though not entirely. Reports say that, while Diesel will have a producer credit on the film, he is not set to show up in it, meaning the two actors won’t get the chance to butt heads anyway. While Diesel may not show up, other Fast & Furious cast members may, though no one is confirmed.
Dwayne Johnson appears to be heavily involved in the Hobbs movie, with his Seven Bucks Productions producing along with his partners Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia. It seems, on the whole, that both Johnson and Diesel are sucking it up in order to make a movie that could help revitalize careers that have taken some hits recently. F&F films have seen dropping box office returns recently, and Johnson still has egg on his face over the entire Black Adam / DC Films debacle.
The plot of the film isn’t known yet, but Chris Morgan, who wrote several Fast & Furious movies including Hobbs’ first appearance in Fast Five and Hobbs & Shaw, penned the script. If the teaser at the end of Fast X is any indication, the movie will see Hobbs facing off against Jason Momoa’s psychotic villain before we get to find out what happened to the family after the events of Fast X. While Momoa may be all but confirmed for the film, there is no word on if Johnson’s copious amount of forehead sweat has agreed to return for the movie.
