The Fast & Furious 9 (aka F9) trailer is now out in the world, and the reveal of Han Lue’s return perfectly sets up the next movie in the franchise to be Fast vs. Furious. Ten films and almost twice as many years since the first installment of the Fast & Furious franchise, the series that was  once about electronic component thieves with exotic cars has morphed into a globe-trotting, world-saving collection of stunt extravaganzas. Beyond that, however, the importance of family is always stressed - which makes the interaction and rifts between characters, and actors, all that more interesting.

Having been a major component of the series since Fast Five, including 2019’s spin-off film Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is noticeably absent from the F9 trailer. Rumors of a rift between Johnson and Vin Diesel surfaced, and it was later revealed that Johnson wouldn’t be in the latest installment of the franchise. Things may have cooled since then, after Johnson thanked Diesel publicly for supporting the spin-off, so there is a possibility of seeing him Fast & Furious 10. The return of his Hobbs & Shaw co-star, Jason Statham, is also awaited by fans so that they may finally get justice for Han.

The trailer for F9 has revealed that Han is actually still alive, meaning that his death - which, thanks to a complicated chronology, took place in the series’ third and sixth installment - was apparently not as final as it appeared. This means that the quest for vengeance is much more complicated. Details about where Han has been for the past few years (and how he survived) are still to come, and will likely provide answers as to how much justice he will need. But considering that his death was an act of revenge on Shaw’s part, there is still the potential for a reckoning between the characters.

With the Shaw and Han story line still dangling and the tension between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel hopefully resolved, the next movie seems like the perfect time and place to bring it all back together. It has long been thought that Fast & Furious 10 would bring a close to the series, and while that may no longer be the case given the success of the spin-off, it is likely to end this part of the story and tie up loose ends. If bringing Han back from the dead is a possibility, then bringing Hobbs and Shaw back for one final showdown doesn’t seem like a stretch - especially since both characters were originally introduced as enemies for Dom and the Family.

There is also the likelihood that these two factions will be put at odds with each other from an outside force, much like how Dom was pitted against his friends by Cipher in The Fate of the Furious. Her presence in F9 and her using Dom’s long-lost brother against him clearly means she has more in store for the team. But whether it is the machinations of a villain or the two sides of the Fast Family colliding on their own terms, Fast & Furious 10 needs Hobbs and Shaw to return to the main series and settle things once and for all.

Next: Why Fast & Furious Franchise Is Now Called The Fast Saga

  • F9: The Fast Saga Release Date: 2021-06-25