After the events of Fast X left jaws on the floor for fans of Fast & Furious, all eyes are on the next chapter for Vin Diesel and his family. So, here is everything known so far.
The returns of Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot and a barrage of sudden cliffhangers have made Fast & Furious 11 (XI) a must-see for those who take their popcorn with a side of nitrous.
For a movie franchise that has been ongoing for over two decades, there seem to be no brakes on the road to the final chapter. All characters could return, and everyone in Hollywood is eligible to show up. Anything can happen.
Fast & Furious 11 Release Date: When Will It Come Out?
After announcing at this year's CinemaCon that Fast 11 will be released in 2025, Vin Diesel narrowed it down via Instagram with a release date of April 4, 2025.
While there has been no official filming announcement for the film, Diesel said on that Instagram post that "part two is going to be an effort from our fast family and studio as you have never seen." This heavy-lift film is going to have a huge cast with big sets and large-scale production. This release date is on the board, but nothing is set in stone.
Further concerns for that release date were flamed with the Writer's Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Universal Pictures President Peter Cramer said in an interview with The Los Angeles Times, "If it lasts for too long, it’ll be hard to imagine that we can get this film up on the timeline we’d like to."
Luckily, both of those strikes are over, meaning that Fast XI's pre-production can commence.
Fast & Furious 11 Cast: Who Will Return?
Few movie franchises can manufacture the cast of characters available in the Fast & Furious franchise. Based on where each character in Fast X left when the credits hit, here is who to expect for Fast & Furious 11:
- Vin Diesel - Dominic Toretto
- Michelle Rodriguez - Letty Ortiz
- Jason Momoa - Dante Reyes
- Dwayne Johnson - Luke Hobbs
- Jason Statham - Deckard Shaw
- Ludacris - Tej
- Tyrese Gibson - Roman
- Sung Kang - Han
- Nathalie Emmanuel - Ramsey
- Jordana Brewster - Mia Toretto
- Charlize Theron - Cipher
- Gal Gadot - Gisele
- Alan Ritchson - Aimes
- Daniela Melchior - Isabel
- Leo Abelo Perry - Brian "Little B" Marcos
- Helen Mirren - Queenie
- Brie Larson - Miss Nobody
- Scott Eastwood - Little Nobody
- Kurt Russell - Mr. Nobody
One character that director Louis Leterrier singled out when speaking to Comicbook was Leo Abelo Perry's Brian Marcos, who he jokingly hoped would "age slower" with Fast 11 taking longer to release:
"Our trick is that, you know, I have a young boy who's aging very quickly... The kid playing Dom's son, I see him on Instagram and every day. I'm, like, checking. 'Ugh, I see you have like a mustache ... slow down.'"
With Leterrier hoping that Perry will stay looking young in the meantime, this seems to suggest that he will play a key role in the next Fast and Furious installment.
Will Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner Return in Fast 11?
For a movie franchise known for breaking the "did you see a body?" rule when bringing characters back from the dead, the biggest return question involves a character that has not died on screen.
Before diving into the potential of Brian O'Connor's on-screen return to Fast & Furious, it needs to be said that Paul Walker's death was a travesty for Hollywood, fans, and the Fast Family. Rest in peace, Paul Walker. Thank you for the memories.
Now, back to how Fast & Furious is handling the sudden death of Paul Walker because it is bananas.
Since one of the most emotional endings in blockbuster history watching Brian and Dom drive off in separate directions, Brian O'Connor/Paul Walker has made two posthumous "appearances" in the Fast & Furious franchise.
The first was an off-screen appearance as Brian's signature blue Nissan pulls up to the family house in time to fill the empty seat at the table. The next was in Fast X but only in archival footage recapping the franchise.
The long and short of it: it is going to happen. Universal has already used a combination of CGI and Walker's brothers (respectfully) to finish Furious 7. With the recent surge of artificial intelligence use of face and likeness, there seems to be no way Brian O'Connor does not make another appearance in this franchise.
Ethics for this situation are up in the air, and Paul Walker's family would need to be 110% on board. It is worth noting that the relationship between Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and the rest of the Fast Family is one of the strongest in Hollywood lore (omitting one former World Wrestling Champion).
It is harder to believe that Vin would sign off on bringing Brian O'Connor back distastefully than it is that he is never coming back at all.
Will Dwayne Johnson Be in Fast 11?
Ask anyone who walked out of Fast X, and they would have told you that Dwayne Johnson is back, and Hobbs will be a major player in Fast XI. With the way Fast X left off with the core family getting scenes cut in half in favor of a cliffhanger, there were three characters set to take the baton for Fast 11 before the eventual Fast 12.
The leader of that pack was Dwayne Johnson's Luke Hobbs being threatened by Dante Reyes. All signs pointed to Fast 10 being the Vin Diesel movie, Fast 11 being the Dwayne Johnson movie, and Fast 12 being the Arnold Schwarzenegger/Carl Weathers gif from Predator.
Wrong.
Dwayne Johnson announced that Hobbs is back in the Fast Franchise, and shortly after it was announced that Hobbs would be making his feature-length return in another Fast spinoff. It was made clear via The Hollywood Reporter that this is not Fast XI or a sequel to Johnson's previous spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw.
Writer Chris Morgan said "This is not a Hobbs & Shaw sequel — and it's not 'Fast 11.' Think of it more like 'Fast X.5.'"
This could be the third movie Vin Diesel was talking about when saying Fast X was the beginning of a "final trilogy" for the franchise since Fast XI is the only official remaining sequel on the books.
The best bet is that this new Dwayne Johnson-led "Hobbs Spinoff" will deal with the repercussions of Fast X for Luke Hobbs and potentially his frienemy Deckard Shaw, who is on the chase to save his mother Maggie played by Helen Mirren.
Then, both sides of the coin could come together for the Endgame event of Fast XI.
Fast & Furious 11 Plot: What Will Happen?
So with the Dwayne Johnson-led spinoff set to release between Fast 10 and Fast 11, it is tough to know for sure what the plot of Fast 11 will be.
However, there are no less than five non-Hobbs-related cliffhangers in Fast X that ensure that there are a variety of threads that will be tied to some degree in Fast XI.
Mentioned above is the Shaw Family line where Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw has packed a backpack and is ready to go save his mom. Luke Evans' watch is officially on.
The remaining cliffhangers are a variety of off-screen fates that need to be revealed, last-second cameos that open brand-new (and old-school) doors, and some scenes that frankly just cut to black. But "Don't Stop Believing" does not play.
First and foremost is Dom and his son Little Brian trapped on the bottom of an exploding dam they had just driven down outrunning an explosion like a skier outrunning an avalanche. Surely, fans will find out how Dom gets out of that one.
Just before those events, the heroic return of Tej, Ramsey, Roman, and Han coming to save the day was cut short by Alan Ritchardson's Aimes turning heel to join his fellow Aquaman actor Jason Mamoa on the dark side. Put your mortgage on every single one of them surviving that plane crash.
Next, after Michelle Rodriguez's Letty and Charlize Theron's Cipher form an all-time odd couple for Fast & Furious, they come across the return of Gal Gadot's Giselle appearing out of nowhere. She arrived aboard the submarine from the Fast movie that was released three movies after her character's death.
No one knows how or why she is here, but everyone is excited to find out.
Last is the final family of Fast & Furious, the Nobodys. Brie Larson joined Scott Eastwood and Kurt Russel in this family of mysterious super-spies, and they are set up to show up like The Vale at any given moment.
Director Louis Leterrier has also indicated that looking to Fast X may hold the answer to where the next movie is headed. In an interview with Cinemablend, Leterrier teased that the dialogue in certain scenes lays the groundwork for Fast 11:
"Listen to what is said, listen to the dialogue. I think people enjoy the visuals, and the flare, and the fun, and everything. But there are some scenes that are designed where the conversations, the threats are real. When something sticks out, it’s for a reason. I’m not talking about one scene in particular, there’s like five scenes where we laid out the seeds to our great, next part of this adventure."
Leterrier also directly pointed to the scene where Cipher finds Dom and Letty to tell them about Dante's nefarious plot as a starting point:
"Let’s start with the beginning. The moment where Cipher enters Dom and Letty’s house. Whatever she says will inform everything"
Fast and Furious super-sleuths, get your analytical hats on.
That is everything we know so far about the sure-fire mega movie that will be Fast 11. Yes, there are more questions on the table than answers available in the given runtime of a movie. But that has never stopped this franchise before.
Fast & Furious fans have been conditioned for 22 years to live their lives a quarter-mile at a time, and watching this story unfold is no different. Few things can be certain in this universe, but one thing is never in doubt...family.
Fast XI is tentatively set to release in theaters on April 4, 2025.
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