Jordana Brewster, star of F9, has inadvertently pointed out one of the film's biggest problems. In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Brewster - who has appeared throughout the franchise as Mia Toretto, the sister to Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto - talked about how she "loved" the Toretto-focused flashback sequences in F9, and that she would like to see more of her character's backstory. She also explained that she isn't sure exactly what the dynamic between Mia and long-lost brother Jakob (John Cena) is and that she'd like to see it explored in future films.
F9 marks Jakob's first appearance in the Fast and Furious franchise, and its flashback sequences gently rewrite the Toretto family's story as told in previous installments in an attempt to contextualize his unexplained existence. The Fast and Furious franchise is one that's played host to an ever-growing ensemble cast, and its unrelenting emphasis on the power of family comes together in F9 to introduce an actual family member in the form of Cena's Jakob. However, Brewster's recent comments inadvertently highlight just how much this plot point was shoehorned into the film in order to allow for Cena to join the franchise - quite possibly in order for him to replace Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in F9, who exited the Fast Saga amid reports of tension on-set.
Brewster rightly stated that Jakob's relationship with Mia wasn't fully explored in F9, but really, it's nothing less than a glaring oversight in the franchise's most recent installment. Moreover, it also highlights just how ludicrous his inclusion really is - another Toretto sibling wasn't even alluded to at any point among the Fast family, something that would surely come up sooner or later. Besides, for a franchise that puts so much stock in the power of family, how could they let an actual blood relative be completely forgotten?
Way back in 2001's The Fast & the Furious, Dom outlined the events surrounding his father's death to Brian (Paul Walker). Nowhere in the story was there room for a whole extra subplot regarding a sibling rivalry of biblical proportions, but F9 delivers just that - with Young Dom (played by Vinnie Bennett) blaming Young Jakob (Finn Cole) for their father's death. That's about as much explanation as the Fast Saga is willing to offer for why Dom made no mention of Jakob, despite it going against the franchise's core tenet - family.
This is also evident in the way in which Jakob and Mia interact - or, more to the point, don't interact. F9 does very little to establish that Jakob is Mia's brother, too, which again, doesn't exactly gel with the franchise's family dynamic. Dom and Mia have made a habit of welcoming former antagonists into their family unit - and with Mia, in particular, demonstrating a more rational, level-headed temperament, it seems unlikely that Jakob's existence would have been ignored for so long. Still, Mia's backstory in the Fast and Furious saga is so often overshadowed by Dom's and forgotten in the wider narrative that it almost makes sense from a story perspective, even if that does indicate one of the franchise's wider problems - it forgets to flesh out some of its supporting characters.
Despite the lack of explanation, however, this mistake could easily be remedied in future films. Seeing Mia and Jakob actually share a genuine bond by exploring their story a little further would easily smooth over the franchise's glaring misstep, and would also give one of its least explored female characters a little more depth. Whether or not the Fast Saga takes that tack going forward, though, there's definitely more explaining necessary to address one of F9's biggest problems.