The Fast & Furious franchise has been burning rubber and brain cells since 2001, churning out ten increasingly absurd instalments. Now, after two decades of racing melodrama, Vin Diesel is promising that “Fast X: Part 2” will be the end.
In case you missed the end credits of “Fast X” (and honestly, I wouldn’t blame you), Gal Gadot’s Gisele, who absolutely died in ‘Fast & Furious 6,’ popped up alive and well. Now, Diesel has teased another “surprise” return: Brian O’Conner. Yes, that’s the character played by the late Paul Walker, who will apparently be back. How? Who knows. Magic? Deepfake? Voodoo?
At FuelFest, Diesel took the stage like a hype man at his own retirement party. “The studio said to me, ‘Vin, can we please have the finale. His conditions? Return to Los Angeles, bring back street racing, and reunite Dom with Brian.
Let’s pause there. Brian was last seen driving off into a sepia-toned sunset in 2015’s ‘Furious 7,’ a surprisingly tasteful farewell, considering the franchise’s general lack of subtlety. Walker’s real-life passing in 2013 led to his brothers, Cody and Caleb, stepping in alongside digital trickery to complete Brian’s final scenes. Since then, Brian’s been “alive” in-universe but kept wisely off-screen. Apparently, that restraint is over.
There’s talk of flashbacks, reused footage, and maybe — Dear God—CGI or AI recreations. Because if there’s one thing ‘Fast & Furious’ needs, it’s an ethical minefield right before it wraps up. Bringing back a deceased actor’s likeness via AI might sound like something out of Black Mirror, but hey, if it sells tickets and fuels nostalgia, who’s counting the moral cost?
As for the supposed return to roots Diesel keeps promising—back to L.A., back to cars, back to actual street racing—color me skeptical. This franchise left “the streets” almost two decades ago.
‘Fast X: Part 2’ (or ‘Fast 11,’ or ‘Fast: Resurrection’—whatever they’re calling it) still doesn’t have a locked release date, but April 2027 is the current placeholder. That gives them just enough time to revive a few more characters, bend a few more laws of physics, and maybe—just maybe—remind us that this all started over a stolen DVD player and a tuna sandwich.
Godspeed, Vin. And bring a shovel—you’ll need it for all these plot holes.
Quentin Tarantino has released ten films, but which one is his masterpiece? A critics’ poll I started back in 2024, and left sitting in my drafts ever since, is currently deadlocked between two films.