Fast and the Furious writer Chris Morgan says the franchise would only go into outer space if he had an idea that was 'so good.' So far, the franchise has been all over planet Earth looking for exotic settings for car races (and for stuff to destroy). The new series installment, The Fate of the Furious, pushes its own already way-out-there boundaries by heading to the frozen arctic for an action sequence involving a submarine. Now that we've seen Dwayne Johnson and company zooming across an arctic ice sheet, there's arguably only one place left to take the franchise, and that's outer space.
But would the Fast and the Furious franchise, as outlandish as it has always been, really consider leaving Earth behind and venturing into the roadless reaches of outer space?
Fate of the Furious writer Chris Morgan was asked that very question by Uproxx, and instead of slamming that particular door shut, he actually suggested the possibility that an outer space permutation of Fast and the Furious could happen under the right circumstances:
“Look, I get all versions of that question. I get, ‘Are you going to space?,’ and, ‘Please, God, tell me you’re not going to space because you’ll lose me if you do.’ ... The only way I’d go to space is if I had something so good.”
"Something so good," Morgan then suggested, could involve Vin Diesel taking on a dual role as his Fast and the Furious character Dom and another more outer spacey character he is known for:
"What if Dom’s long lost brother, Richard B. Riddick showed up?”
As ridiculous as this speculation might be, is it really that much more over-the-top than some of the stuff we've seen in the trailers for Fate of the Furious? It's not as though this franchise has ever been about sticking to what is realistically possible. Venturing into outer space, however, might be taking things a step too far. Generally speaking, when franchises go into space it's a sign that every other possible plot line has been exhausted and the writers are grasping at straws.
Any talk about an earthbound franchise going into space immediately conjures thoughts of the James Bond movie Moonraker, which sent Roger Moore's 007 into orbit for a flat-out laser battle. And of course there was the infamous Friday the 13th sequel Jason X, which saw Jason Vorhees murdering people in a space colony. If Fast and the Furious did somehow manage to pull off a journey into space without jumping the shark like other franchises have done the second they escaped Earth's gravity, it would truly have to involve an inspired bit of storytelling.
Next: Fate of the Furious Early Reactions
Source: Uproxx
