In Fast & Furious 9, also known as F9, the appearance of Han Lue and his new car is a clever reference to The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. The Fast and Furious series is one of the highest-grossing franchises of all-time, with the seventh and eighth films both accumulating over $1 billion at the box office. After eight films and one spinoff, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew are set to take on Dom's younger brother, Jakob (John Cena), and their old foe, Cipher (Charlize Theron).
The action-packed Fast and the Furious 9 trailer highlighted dangerous action and chase sequences, but it also revealed the return of one memorable character, Han (Sung Kang). In Tokyo Drift, Han seemingly died in a car explosion. In the Fast & Furious 6 mid-credits scene, it was revealed that Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) killed Han as revenge for Dom injuring his brother, Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). However, in F9, Han shows up to help Dom, Mia (Michelle Rodriguez), and the rest of the gang in their battle against Jakob and Cipher. In the footage, Han speeds right into the action. Fans of the series might have noticed that Han's car is an ode to an earlier car from Tokyo Drift.
During a chase scene in F9, Han swerves onto the scene in an orange and black 2020 Toyota Supra. Although Han never drove that car in the series up to this point, the color scheme is a direct reference to a car he drives in Tokyo Drift. When accused of stealing money by Takashi and Morimoto, Han flees and drives the orange and black 1997 Mazda RX-7 to escape. It's this Mazda that ends up exploding with Han in it, which supposedly killed him.
At the time, Han seemed to be dead, especially after Dom collected Han's belongings in Furious 7. With his return in F9, Han somehow managed to survive the crash. This would not be the first time the series brought back a character that was supposedly dead. Letty was believed to be murdered in Fast & Furious 4, but it turns out that she survived the explosion and returned to the series in Fast & Furious 6.
Ever since his death, fans have been clamoring for Han's redemption, having even created the hashtag #JusticeForHan. There's still a lot of answers surrounding his return, but director Justin Lin felt that Han deserved justice, which inspired both of their returns to the franchise. For now, fans will be left to speculate Han's appearance until Fast & Furious 9 races into theaters in May.
