The Fast & Furious franchise officially announced Fast X as the title for the upcoming tenth movie, but in doing so, the studio missed an opportunity at the best sequel title. The tenth entry in The Fast Saga is currently scheduled to release on May 19, 2023, which will be slightly less than two years after the debut of F9. Fast X will also mark the first half of the saga's finale set for 2024. Both movies will be directed by franchise vet Justin Lin and will star series mainstays like Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, and Ludacris.
While Fast & Furious 10 was long predicted to be the final movie in the main saga, Diesel and Universal Pictures announced the last chapter would be split into two feature films. F9's release date pushback due to the coronavirus delayed the franchise's timeline, but it also gave the creative team time to fully plan out the saga's endgame. F9 ended with Diesel's Dom Toretto celebrating yet another victory with his crew after stopping the dangerous Project Aries device while evading another attack by Cipher (Charlize Theron). Dom also somewhat reconciled with his brother, Jakob (John Cena), who will likely return in future installments.
In addition to sharing that the tenth movie is now in production, The Fast Saga officially confirmed the title as Fast X. However, there's a much more clever sequel title the studio could have used: Fast10 Your Seatbelts. The play on words to switch "Fast10" with "Fasten" would have shown that Universal is in on the jokes surrounding the franchise's ever-changing sequels. The Fast X title announcement (via Twitter) even mentions the pun-worthy connection, stating, "Fasten your seat belts. FAST X is now in production." The option was there, but Universal seems to have gone with the safer option. It would have also been better than Diesel's FX title idea.
By ignoring the "Fast10" option for the sequel title, The Fast Saga is yet again bypassing the fun title opportunity. When The Fate of the Furious was announced as the 8th movie's title, many questioned why the movie wasn't titled The F8 of the Furious. It wouldn't have marked the first time the franchise swapped numbers for words, considering 2 Fast 2 Furious. Taking into account the direction of the franchise, which has now been to space, it would have been amusing to see the Vin Diesel and Universal poke fun at the series with an absurd title. If viewers have stuck around for two decades thus far, a title like Fast10 Your Seatbelts certainly wouldn't deter fans from wanting to see the new movie. In fact, embracing a joke within the title would likely make The Fast Saga more likable.
Granted, it's interesting that the sequel titles for The Fast Saga entries are still garnering attention. Usually, the topic leans into the title inconsistency, but in this case, it's missing out on a fun milestone opportunity. It's similar to Scream not electing Scream5 (or ScreamS) as the title for the 5th franchise movie. In the end, anticipation was still high, and the same will be said for Fast X, which will see the franchise debuts of newcomer cast members Jason Mamoa and Brie Larson. The studio still has a chance at a better title for the final installment, but unfortunately, the number 11 limits the play on words.
