Summary

• Elena's role in the Fast and Furious franchise was initially small, but her character became significant as she was the mother of Dom's son. This revelation served as a major bombshell.
• Elena's pregnancy was not revealed until after the baby was born, and she failed to mention it in previous films. The revelations surrounding her pregnancy raised timeline questions within the franchise.
• The inconsistency in young Brian's age is a major plot hole in the Fast and Furious franchise. F9 attempted to fix this issue by casting Vin Diesel's own son as Little Brian, but it did not fully solve the timeline problems.

Elena's Fast and Furious role was a smaller supporting one, but Elsa Pataky's character turned out to be significant as she was the mother of Dom's son. Despite Dom's (Vin Diesel) romantic history with Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) throughout the Fast & Furious franchise, he became a father to Elena's baby. The existence of Dom's son served as a major bombshell, but the details surrounding Elena's pregnancy were shrouded in inconsistencies. The Fate of the Furious gave a few details about Elena's pregnancy — but the revelations raised many Fast franchise timeline questions.

Elena was first introduced in Fast Five as a patrol officer in Rio de Janeiro. While initially helping Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) track Dom and his crew, Elena ended up siding with the outlaws after learning of their intentions to take down a local crime lord. By the start of Fast & Furious 6, Dom and Elena were in a romantic relationship, but that quickly came to an end when he learned Letty was still alive. Elena eventually relocated to Los Angeles to join Hobbs at the DSS, but her past with Dom eventually led to her death in the Fast and Furious universe.

Watch On Prime Video

How Did Dom Learn He Had A Son In Fast & Furious?

Elena's Pregnancy Was Not Revealed Until After The Baby Was Born

Despite appearing in Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7 in a limited capacity, Elena failed to mention the fact that she was pregnant with Dom's child. When Pataky returned for The Fate of the Furious, it was shockingly revealed that she and her young son were kidnapped by the cyber-terrorist Cipher.

Dom's motivations in assisting Cipher hinged on the safety of Dom and Elena's baby. Sadly, Elena was killed by Cipher (Charlize Theron) to prove she was serious, but the child was saved, giving Dom a new purpose in life now that he was a father. Young Brian Marcos, who was named after the character Brian O'Connor (played by the late Paul Walker), returned in F9, but once again, his depicted age served as a plot hole.

How Young Brian's Age Doesn't Make Sense In The Fast & Furious Franchise

The Changing Child Actors Make Brian's Age Harder To Pinpoint

Dom and Elena ended their relationship in the sixth movie, which took place in 2013 according to the canonical Fast & Furious timeline. Seeing as that was their last confirmed point of contact, Elena would have been pregnant before the events of Furious 7. It was likely that she knew of her pregnancy during Deckard Shaw's violent attack on the DSS office.

In the end, however, Elena elected to keep the news to herself, and the truth wasn't unearthed until her kidnapping in The Fate of the Furious. The eighth installment was set in 2017, but according to the movie, Elena and Dom's son couldn't have been older than one. In reality, young Brian would have been around the age of three or four based on the supposed conception in 2013. Instead, the Fast & Furious franchise presented a plot hole by using a baby to portray young Brian.

From a storyline standpoint, it made sense why the series wanted Dom to emerge as the primary caregiver to a relatively young child, but there's still no doubt that Brian's age presents major inconsistencies. F9 attempted to fix things somewhat by casting Vincent Sinclair, Vin Diesel's own son, as Little Brian since he was closer to the appropriate age range, though this didn't solve the timeline issues.

Does Fast X Fix The Little Brian Timeline Plothole?

The Latest Young Brian Actor Is More Suitable For The Character's Age

In Fast X, Little B played a larger role than in the previous movies. They also switched out actors in the role of Brian, as twins Isaac & Immanuel Holtane ended up replaced by Cheaper By the Dozen star Leo Abelo Perry. In Fast X, Dom's brother Jakob Toretto took Little B to protect him as Dom ended up on the run from the vengeful Dante Reyes.

Perry is a 10-year-old actor, which would line up perfectly when it comes to how old Dom's son should be by the time Fast X rolled around, 10 years after his mother's pregnancy. While it doesn't match up with how he looked in The Fate of the Furious, it perfectly lines up with his role in F9, fixing the Fast and Furious plothole.