Fast & Furious

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Fast & Furious, the franchise first called The Fast and the Furious, began with a magazine article. In May 1998, Vibe published "Racer X" by Ken Li, a report on underground street racing in New York City. Within a few decades, that article had fed a series of films, a television show, theme park rides, toys and board games. The films together have grossed over $7 billion. That makes this Universal's biggest franchise and the eighth highest-grossing film series of all time.

  The story behind that success is stranger than the numbers. The lead actor walked away from the sequel. The third film lost nearly everyone from the first. One star died in the middle of production. Others traded public insults. A producer sued the studio that made his fortune. Critics have mostly been lukewarm, and some Los Angeles residents have protested the films outright. So how did a series about street racing survive all of that, and why is its final chapter so hard to finish?

  1144140

• 2. A Dream Action Film

  ›

  In 2000, the actor Paul Walker finished work with the director Rob Cohen on a film called The Skulls. Cohen then struck a deal with the producer Neal H. Moritz for an untitled Universal action picture. He asked Walker to name his "dream" action film. Walker suggested a mash-up of Days of Thunder, from 1990, and Donnie Brasco, from 1997.

  Cohen and Moritz returned with a concrete idea. Walker would play an undercover cop who infiltrates underground street racing in Los Angeles. Walker signed on at once. Finding a co-star was harder.

  The studio warmed to Timothy Olyphant as Dominic Toretto, because Gone in 60 Seconds had been a hit in 2000. Olyphant declined. Moritz kept pushing for Vin Diesel, who had just made Pitch Black. Diesel accepted after proposing several script changes.

  The title took just as much deliberation. Moritz weighed Racer X, Redline, Race Wars and Street Wars. A documentary about American International Pictures settled it for him. The documentary featured a 1954 film called The Fast and the Furious, directed by Roger Corman. Moritz obtained the license by trading Corman the use of some stock footage.

  The film opened in June 2001 and shattered expectations. It earned about $207 million worldwide on a $38 million budget. A sequel was green-lit, and the problems began right away.

  4041423990

• 3. The Missing Stars

  ›

  Vin Diesel said no to the sequel in 2002, calling its screenplay inferior to the first. Cohen also passed, choosing to develop XXX, with Diesel in the lead. Universal responded by commissioning a standalone story built around Walker. John Singleton took over as director, and filming slipped by a year. The production moved to Miami.

  Tyrese Gibson, who had worked with Singleton on Baby Boy, was hired as Walker's new co-star. The film also introduced Ludacris, who became a long-running member of the cast. Titled 2 Fast 2 Furious, it was the only main film without Diesel as Dominic Toretto.

  For the third film, Universal tried Diesel again. He declined again, citing other projects and a dislike for the script. Universal also failed to bring back Walker or anyone else from the original cast. So the studio ordered a stand-alone film instead.

  The screenwriter Chris Morgan aimed it at car enthusiasts. He introduced new characters and a car subculture, and he moved the action to Tokyo. Japan has one of the world's largest automotive industries. This began the series habit of filming outside the United States.

  Moritz hired Justin Lin as director, impressed by his earlier film Better Luck Tomorrow. That film contained a character named Han, played by Sung Kang. Han appeared in Tokyo Drift. Lin and Kang later confirmed repeatedly that it was the same man. That made Better Luck Tomorrow his origin story and a retroactive part of the franchise.

  Diesel returned for a brief cameo. In exchange, his production company acquired the rights to the Riddick character. Even so, the third film earned about $159 million worldwide on an $85 million budget. It was the least financially successful in the series, and the future looked uncertain.

  4344454647

• 4. Heists and Heartbreak

  ›

  By 2006, Diesel was running through a string of disappointments, including The Chronicles of Riddick, The Pacifier and Find Me Guilty. His cameo in Tokyo Drift had stirred new interest in the series. In mid-2008, Universal re-signed Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. Walker hesitated after six years away. Diesel assured him that the new film would count as the first "true" sequel.

  Morgan returned to write it, partly because critics had praised Han. Han appeared to die in the third film, so the timeline was rearranged to bring him back. The fourth film, Fast & Furious, put less weight on car culture. It was a commercial success and revived the star power of both Diesel and Walker.

  Fast Five, released in 2011, abandoned street racing altogether and became a heist film. Universal hoped to win audiences put off by an emphasis on cars. The film features only one car race. It was first conceived as the end of the series. Strong test screenings changed that plan, and Dwayne Johnson joined the cast to critical praise.

  The next film took in $788 million worldwide, the highest total in the series up to that point. Lin had storyboarded and begun editing a twelve-minute finale for it before Fast Five finished filming. The Los Angeles Times reported that Universal planned a single storyline across the sixth and seventh films.

  In November 2013, Walker died in a car crash. The seventh film, with James Wan directing, was delayed until 2015. His brothers Caleb and Cody Walker stood in for him while CGI recreated his likeness. His character's arc was reworked into a "retired" one.

  Furious 7 became the third-highest-grossing film of 2015. It earned about $1.5 billion worldwide, the highest total in the series. The re-shoots wore Wan down, and he did not return.

  4952545596

• 5. Feuds and Finances

  ›

  In 2017, F. Gary Gray directed The Fate of the Furious, the first of what Universal intended as a closing trilogy. Critics praised the performances and action but disliked the story and the long running time. It still grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide. After that, the trouble moved from the screen to the studio.

  Universal chose to make the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, with Johnson and Jason Statham, to fill the 2019 release slot. That pushed the ninth main film back. Gibson answered with an Instagram post criticizing Johnson for the delay. Johnson had already posted, then deleted, a message about his male co-stars. He wrote that some "conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don't."

  Johnson later cited scheduling issues for skipping F9. He also confirmed he would not appear in Fast X or its sequel. When Diesel asked him publicly to return, Johnson called the attempt "manipulative." Even so, he made a cameo at the end of Fast X.

  In October 2018, the longtime producer Neal H. Moritz sued Universal for breach of oral contract and promissory fraud. The studio had removed him as lead producer of Hobbs & Shaw. By May 2019, Universal had dropped him from every future installment. The suit settled in September 2020, and Moritz came back with F9.

  F9 had been due in May 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed it to the 25th of June 2021. It broke pandemic box office records with $726 million worldwide. Fast X, with a budget of $378.8 million, brought in about $715 million. Justin Lin left that project early after on-set differences with Diesel, and Louis Leterrier replaced him.

  The two-part finale had already become a trilogy at Universal's request. After Fast X underperformed, the studio insisted on a single finale that could be made for $200 million. A report in The Wall Street Journal in October 2025 said the film faced potential cancelation. Universal also wanted to cut screen time for cast members or remove some entirely.

  On the 30th of January 2026, the film was announced as Fast Forever, due on the 17th of March 2028. Michael Lesslie replaced Zach Dean as writer. Diesel has said Brian O'Conner will return, which would end the series after 27 years.

  8385878872

• 6. Beyond the Screen

  ›

  The 20-minute short film Los Bandoleros, directed by Diesel himself in 2009, shows Dominic Toretto as a fugitive in the Dominican Republic. He plans the hijacking of a gasoline shipment to help an impoverished neighborhood. Another short, The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious, follows Brian O'Conner's escape from Los Angeles toward Miami. These shorts mostly appeared as DVD extras. They bridged the gap left when the original lead characters departed.

  Fast & Furious Spy Racers, an animated series from DreamWorks Animation, ran for six seasons on Netflix. It premiered on the 26th of December 2019 and ended in December 2021. Tony Toretto, Dominic's cousin, infiltrates an elite racing league that fronts for a crime organization called SH1FT3R. In May 2026, Diesel announced four live-action series in development for Peacock.

  Universal turned the films into rides as well. From 2006 to 2013, an attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood showed prop vehicles moved by robotic arms. In 2015, Fast & Furious: Supercharged opened there, with a Pepper's ghost effect showing the cast. A similar ride arrived at Universal Studios Florida in 2018. A roller coaster called Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift was announced in July 2023, with a Florida version planned for 2027.

  Not every spin-off found its footing. Fast & Furious Live, a stunt show announced in 2018, drew harsh reviews. Ryan Gilbey of The Guardian saw entire rows empty and wrote that the only danger was that the audience might die of boredom. The production company entered administration in summer 2018, and the cars and equipment were auctioned in 2019.

  The 2004 arcade game The Fast and the Furious was designed by Eugene Jarvis, creator of the Cruis'n series. In 2020, Fast & Furious Crossroads arrived to largely negative reception. Merchandise fared better. LEGO released Dom's 1970 Dodge Charger R/T in 2022, with 345 pieces and a minifigure. Brian O'Conner's Nissan Skyline GT-R followed in 2023 with 319 pieces.

  8932373876

• 7. Streets and Screens

  ›

  In August 2022, residents of Los Angeles protested the filming of Fast X, claiming the movies promote illegal street racing. The Los Angeles Times reported that some LAPD officers blame the films for popularizing street racing in the city. The first few films also helped popularize the import scene and car tuning.

  The audience tells a different story from the critics. Furious 7 reportedly drew 37 percent Latino viewers, 25 percent White, 24 percent Black and 10 percent Asian. That made it one of the few American blockbusters with a majority non-White audience. The franchise has been credited with increasing onscreen diversity.

  In a 2011 article about the casting, Wesley Morris argued that the films are free of the angst found in most movies about race. He called them "a prolonged party for a ring of street-racing urban car thieves."

  Critics rated the early films poorly. Fast & Furious earned 29 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Fast Five reached 78 percent, and Furious 7 reached 82 percent, the highest score in the series. Fast Forever now has to land a finale with a $200 million budget and a returning Brian O'Conner.

  848586571