The Super Bowl trailer for Fast & Furious 9 may include the hidden return of Bow Wow's Twinkie from The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift. Universal has been hyping the film for well over a year now, starting with a trailer reveal in early 2020. The film was originally scheduled to release in April 2019, but has been delayed a handful of times, notably to get out of the way of the next Bond film No Time To Die (currently delayed itself), and was ultimately pushed back to May 28, 2021 due to the global pandemic.
The cast for these movies has become sprawling, with Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto leading the way, and stalwarts like Tyrese Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez, and Ludacris all returning as well. This time around, Dom and crew have to take on Dom's brother Jakob (John Cena), a dangerous assassin and driver, who's teaming up with returning criminal mastermind Cypher, played by Charlize Theron. And though the final movie is set up as an Endgame-sized event that could expand the cast even more, F9 includes a number of key returns of its own.
The new trailer is action-packed, but there also seems to be a "blink and you'll miss it" cameo from Bow Wow as Twinkie, a role he originated in The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift back in 2006. Twinkie appeared in Furious 7 in archive footage, but this would be his first proper return to the franchise since Tokyo Drift. Twinkie appears to be sitting at the dinner table with Dom and the rest of his crew alongside his fellow Tokyo Drift characters Han and a bearded Sean Boswell, presumably as part of a big reunion scene.
Twinkie was another protege of Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang), the key returning member of Dom's crew after his apparent death. Twinkie introduced Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) the protagonist of Tokyo Drift, who is visible at the same table in the trailer, to the world of drift street racing and the wider Fast & Furious world. Twinkie is also the one who put Sean on Dom's radar at the end of Tokyo Drift. With both Han and Sean back for Fast & Furious 9, it stands to reason that they would bring Twinkie along for the ride.
It's unclear why Twinkie would be returning to the franchise at this point, other than the fact that Bow Wow is a compelling screen presence from the franchise's most underrated movie. He doesn't seem to have any strong ties to Dom's crew, and he's been sidelined for the majority of the Fast & Furious franchise's meteoric rise to a marquee Hollywood property. And really, the franchise has dramatically moved on since Tokyo Drift, transforming from street racing crime capers into larger than life, world-beating action movies. The Fast & Furious movies have never been afraid of a massive cast, and if they're bringing back Twinkie it's likely with a purpose, but for now that purpose is being kept off the table.
