Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Hobbs & Shaw.
Here's everything we know about Hobbs & Shaw 2 so far. The Fast & Furious franchise has come a long ways since its humble beginnings as a street racing crime-thriller series in the early 2000s. Over the last ten years, the property has basically evolved into a globe-trotting superhero adventure and added big names like Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham to its recurring ensemble. In fact, the Fast & Furious brand have gotten so popular that it's beginning to branch out into spinoff territory now, with this week's Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw serving as the first one out the gate.
Johnson and Statham - who joined the series in Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6, respectively - star in Hobbs & Shaw as the titular duo, aka. DSS agent Luke Hobbs and British Special Forces assassin-turned mercenary Deckard Shaw. The pair are (begrudgingly) forced to work together as they try and find Shaw's sister Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), an MI6 agent who's accused of going rogue after stealing a deadly man-made virus - though, in reality, she took it to keep it safe from Brixton (Idris Elba), an assassin with cyber-genetically enhanced abilities who works for a techno-terrorist organization known as Eteon. The movie has received mostly positive reviews so far, with critics praising its self-aware tone, gleefully ridiculous set pieces, and Johnson and Statham's onscreen chemistry as the film's squabbling heroes.
Suffice it to say, Universal is hopeful that Hobbs & Shaw will be successful enough to warrant green-lighting a sequel (giving them a sub-franchise to go with the mainline Fast & Furious movies). The film itself very much lays the groundwork for future installments, but still works as a standalone adventure overall. That being said, here's where the story could go in Hobbs & Shaw 2, should it eventually come to pass.
Hobbs & Shaw Sets Up A Sequel
Hobbs & Shaw establishes Brixton's boss, the head of Eteon, as being the overarching villain for the series, but leaves it to the sequel to reveal their true identity (they're only ever heard here and their voice is highly processed). The character even hints that they share a history with Hobbs in one scene, which has led some to speculate that they're really Charlize Theron's cyber-terrorist Cipher (who was introduced during The Fate of the Furious). Others, however, believe that Keanu Reeves is up for the role in Hobbs & Shaw 2, following the rumors that he'd been cast in the first movie earlier this year. Johnson, for his part, recently confirmed that he and Reeves are now talking about working on something together in the future (read into that as you will).
The spinoff also introduces two brand-new characters - CIA agent Lock (Ryan Reynolds) and air marshal Dickley (Kevin Hart) - and sets the stage for them to potentially return as members of Hobbs and Shaw's newfound crew in the sequel. They're not the only "guest stars" who could come back for Hobbs & Shaw 2 either, seeing as Rob Delaney also makes a brief debut here as Agent Loeb (who's responsible for tracking down and recruiting Shaw). Similarly, the film's ending suggests that Helen Mirren - reprising her role as Shaw's mother from The Fate of the Furious - will break out of prison and play a larger part in the next movie, with Kirby likewise returning as Hattie.
Hobbs & Shaw 2 Isn't Confirmed Yet
As much as Hobbs & Shaw leaves the door wide open for a sequel, though, Universal has yet to officially green-light Hobbs & Shaw 2. The first movie had a $200 million budget (minus its marketing costs) and is projected to open with $60-70 million in the U.S. this weekend, so it sequel hopes may depend on its performance at the international box office. Fortunately, the most recent Fast & Furious sequels have earned the majority of their money overseas (Fate of the Furious, in fact, made a whopping 82% of its $1.24 billion across the pond), so that bodes well for Hobbs & Shaw, as far as its plans for the future go.
Fast & Furious 9 Releases Next
Assuming that Hobbs & Shaw 2 is ultimately green-lit, though, it won't be the next Fast & Furious movie to hit theaters. That honor will go to Fast & Furious 9, after the film was bumped back to 2020 and its original 2019 date was given to Hobbs & Shaw instead. It's also been announced that Universal is currently working on spinoff films for other Fast & Furious characters, so it appears that their end goal is to alternate annually between a regular Fast & Furious sequel and a spinoff over the next few years. That's to say, Hobbs & Shaw 2 won't be arriving until 2021 or 2022 (at the earliest).
