'Fast And Furious' Franchise Confirmed To End With Two-Part Finale Directed By Justin Lin

Back in February this year, when we couldn't even comprehend that our entire year was going to be ruined, Vin Diesel talked about the likelihood of ending the Fast and Furious franchise with Fast 10. However, rather than being one final movie, the franchise star and producer floated the idea of creating a two-part finale, not unlike the end of franchises like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Twilight. Now that plan has been confirmed by Universal Pictures, and Justin Lin will be at the helm of both of the final installments of the multi-billion dollar franchise.

Deadline has news on the Fast and Furious franchise ending with two more movies following the upcoming F9, now slated for release over Memorial Day weekend on May 28, 2021. Does that mean this we'll be getting Fast 10: Part I and Fast 10: Part 2, or will this be Fast10 Your Seatbelts and The Last of the Furious (hat tip to Brian Lynch for that stroke of genius) with a narrative connection like Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame? That remains to be seen, but Vin Diesel and Universal clearly want to send off this franchise with a bang, and keeping Justin Lin in the director's chair is the best way to do that.

As of now, Vin Diesel will be joined by Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Sung Kang, who is making his big return to the franchise in F9 after his character Han was believed to be dead. It's not clear if Charlize Theron, John Cena, Helen Mirren or Cardi B will join them after the events of F9, but that's likely because that would require venturing into more spoiler territory. Though I guess it's a bit of a spoiler to know that the primary cast members aren't in any danger of dying in the ninth installment.

But what about Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham? They've each been a key part of the franchise in their own way. In fact, Johnson has been credited with help reinvigorating the franchise. But Johnson famously had some beef with Vin Diesel behind the scenes, and while that's believed to be squashed as best it can, the production of the Fast and Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw didn't rub Diesel the right way, and it's not clear if those characters will return for the finale. Universal would be stupid to leave out those two big names, so I'm sure they'll figure something out there. There are also rumblings of Gal Gadot potentially coming back to the franchise, which would make this quite the blockbuster finale.

Back when Diesel talked about the possibility of ending the franchise with a two-part finale, he also hoped "this world to continue for generations to come." So while a two-part finale could end the primary franchise, that doesn't mean we couldn't get more spin-offs or new stories with new characters set in the same world. But we've got a long time before we have to worry about that since there's no indication as to when production on these two movies could begin. Stay tuned.