With the 10th Fast & Furious film now being split into two movies, the core saga still has plenty of gas left in the tank – but what about after Fast & Furious 11 comes out? The official plan is to wrap up the central story by the time credits roll on Fast 11, which could mean any number of big twists or even character deaths. But for a series as popular and lucrative as Fast & Furious, the end of the saga doesn’t mean the end of the franchise. So where could it go in the future?
Universal is already experimenting with Fast & Furious content outside the core saga, like 2019’s spinoff film Hobbs & Shaw, and the kid-aimed Netflix animated series Fast & Furious: Spy Racers, produced by Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Tim Hedrick. In a world where transmedia franchises like Star Wars and Marvel reign supreme, it stands to reason that Universal would want to keep pushing new content across different venues for one of its most successful franchises. The details of what that could look like going forward, however, remain a mystery.
A few things are certain. The primary saga is far from over, and the turns it takes for its last three films could open up a whole range of new opportunities for the franchise. A lot can happen in that amount of screen time, and with the drastic jumps in craziness each Fast & Furious movie has made, almost nothing seems impossible. But even without knowing narrative specifics, there’s still a lot to be gleaned from the series’ current model, past successes, and fan reception.
Fast & Furious 11 Ends The Main Saga Story
The central Fast & Furious story was previously planned to cover 10 movies, but it will now number 11 by the time it’s finished as the final film will be split into two parts. The idea of these films as the main “saga,” which Universal has promoted, suggests that there are some things – characters, plotlines, etc. – that will be fully done with by the end of them. However, with the franchise having changed so much over its lifespan, and previous attempts at wrapping up the story all still having spawned more sequels, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where that line will be drawn.
Prior to more recent entries, many fans would have said that the core story of Fast & Furious was the story of Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) dealing with the repercussions of their pasts and fighting to make a place in the world for themselves and their family. However, that story wrapped up cleanly at the end of Furious 7, with the whole crew being acquitted of their crimes and finding a kind of peace. Because of Paul Walker’s tragic passing and the continuation of the story with The Fate of the Furious, the current core story of the saga has changed.
The problem is that because Fast & Furious wasn’t created with a sweeping storyline in mind, the more recent films have struggled to hold narrative weight in the wake of satisfyingly concluded character arcs. There is no Thanos for Fast & Furious; no Infinity War. Some have theorized that Dom could die at the saga’s climax, but there would have to be some significant emotional buildup over the next three movies to make a twist that work as effectively as the end of Furious 7.
With so much about the saga’s conclusion unknown, it can most reasonably be assumed that what 10 and 11 will try to wrap up is the global spy storyline that’s dominated Fast & Furious of late. The series has becoming increasingly absurd, with the ‘familia’ fighting against global terrorists and superspies, and now potentially going into space in F9. For the core movies to get a proper climax, that escalation is what needs to be resolved, and it will likely revolve around Charlize Theron's Cipher.
Fast & Furious Spinoff Movies Are The Franchise's Future
With the core saga ending, the most obvious path forward for Fast & Furious is more spinoff films like (but hopefully better than) Hobbs & Shaw. With such a huge cast of characters accumulated over the years, any number of promising projects could be produced – a Roman/Ramsey/Tej spy comedy; a reconciled Dom and Jakob Toretto reopening their father’s garage; a movie about Han and Gisele set between Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6. With the right team, any of these and more could be promising follow-ups.
The trick with spinoff attempts will be keeping the series’ core DNA intact while still bringing something fresh to the table. Hobbs & Shaw was heavily criticized in large part because it held the exact same globetrotting bombast of the core films, but with a significantly reduced cast and weaker script that robbed the film of the Fast charm and left it feeling bland. Other major movie franchises have had great success with one-off films and side series that have a distinct personality from the core series, and F&F would do well to follow suit. The Tom Holland Spider-Man films, Guardians of the Galaxy, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Shazam! all fit into this category. The side-story style of Tokyo Drift, for instance, could be a blueprint for the future.
Fast & Furious Can Expand Its TV Lineup
The other obvious future avenue for Fast & Furious is to expand its TV offerings. Similarly successful franchises like Star Wars, Marvel and DC have all put major focus into that area of late, and it could be a good call the ‘familia’ as well. Of course, Fast & Furious could be a bit trickier in that domain simply because, unlike those other properties, it isn’t a lore-based story. There isn’t a greater fictional universe outside of the movies to pull from, and the series has more in common with James Bond than the MCU. Still, there are a few reasons to believe serialized stories could work well for the franchise.
First and most obvious is the fact that Fast & Furious has already delved into the TV format with Spy Racers, the first season of which was positively received and renewed for another. It’s unlikely that other potential TV projects would emulate the show’s same animated, kid-friendly style, but Spy Racers’ very existence shows the Fast production team is interested in branching out into other media. Secondly, the series’ aforementioned ensemble opens up a ton of show possibilities across genres, any of which could be compelling for fans. While the action has always been forefront in the movies, many of the characters are strong enough to carry their own individual stories, on either the big or small screens.
Lastly, developing more Fast & Furious TV shows would make a lot of business sense for NBCUniversal. The company’s new streaming platform, Peacock, will be trying to ramp up traction against competitors like Disney+, Paramount+, HBO Max and Netflix in the near future, and producing original, exclusive content for one of their most successful properties is an easy way to do that. Depending on how the saga wraps up, that could mean a lot more family-driven, potentially-interesting, assuredly-ridiculous Fast & Furious in the future.
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