Three weeks ago, Vin Diesel was hinting on social media that “Fast Forever,” the eleventh and final film in the “Fast & Furious” franchise, was “filming.” The trades took the bait, with headlines proclaiming the start of production. Nonsense. I never bought it.
Diesel is well known for doing this. He had everyone believing in 2024 that ‘Riddick 4’ was filming, despite no cast ever being announced and no updates for almost two years. Hell, there are still plenty of people out there who think ‘Riddick 4’ has wrapped production.
Regardless, now Diesel’s fake news about ‘Fast 11’ filming makes sense. Despite Universal dating “Fast Forever” for a March 17, 2028, release, there are apparently plenty of problems brewing behind the scenes, and Diesel’s social media false flag may have been an attempt to pressure Universal into relenting and greenlighting the immense budget being sought for the film.
Alan Ritchson, who is expected to return for “Fast Forever,” transparently tells the Happy Sad Confused podcast that Universal and Diesel are currently “solving some big problems” on the final film, much of it having to do with the budget.
“I know a lot, we have conversations all the time, I’m a big part of those conversations. There’s just a lot of obstacles. It’s expensive to make— it’s too expensive; it doesn’t make a ton of sense. There’s a more efficient way to shoot those shows. And so there has to be a way to show restraint, while also honoring the fact that this world has expanded to something humongous. We are at the crossroads of something very hard to figure out, and everybody’s figuring it out.”
Ritchson added, “There’s going to be another one, and I think it’s going to be great. It’s just a matter of solving some big problems.”
No cast has even been officially announced for “Fast Forever.” Seemingly, “Fast X” helmer Louis Leterrier is expected to return as director, although that remains unconfirmed. Michael Lesslie is writing the script. Lesslie is the sixth writer to take a crack at “Fast Forever,” following Christina Hodson, Oren Uziel, Aaron Rabin, Zach Dean, and Gary Scott Thompson.
A report from this past March, via The Wall Street Journal, claimed that “Fast Forever” didn’t even have a finished script, with much of the cast still unsigned. It also suggested Universal had demanded that Diesel and his team cut roughly $140M from the budget they were seeking.
“Fast X” ended on a true cliffhanger, with Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and his young son, Brian, seemingly trapped on a collapsing dam after Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) detonated explosives. The next film was clearly meant to pick up right where it left off, but instead it has been delayed for years.
Now set for a 2028 release, “Fast Forever” has a simple problem: Brian will have aged several years in real life even though almost no time has passed in the story. The filmmakers will either have to ignore the discrepancy or abandon the cliffhanger altogether, making the “to be continued” ending feel pointless.