Bad news for anyone who was hoping Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would return to the Fast & Furious universe in the near future: it seems he's well and truly done with the entire franchise - for good.
Johnson played Luke Hobbs in three Fast & Furious movies. He also starred as the former DSS agent in 2019's well-received spinoff Hobbs & Shaw alongside Jason Statham. Unfortunately, it looks as if he's pretty happy to leave it there and draw a line under the increasingly outlandish cinematic darling that is Fast & Furious.
Honestly, I kind of want to see 93-year-old Ryuji Urabe behind the wheel in Fast 10. Check out his story here.
Advert
It's no secret that part of the reason Johnson span off from the main films into Hobbs & Shaw was because of a longstanding and infamous feud with Dom Toretto actor Vin Diesel. While the pair can certainly be civil (at a push), it doesn't appear at all likely that they'll ever work together again - certainly not to wrap up the current Fast & Furious saga, anyway.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter about Johnson's latest Disney film Jungle Cruise, the topic of the Diesel feud was inevitably raised. Last month, Diesel claimed that the origins of this slow-cooked beef lay in his "tough love" approach as a producer when it came to getting the best possible performance out of Johnson.
Johnson acknowledged these claims in his own interview, saying all he could in response was laugh. He added that the last two films will be made without his involvement.
Advert
"I laughed and I laughed hard," he said of seeing Diesel's interview for the first time. "I think everyone had a laugh at that. And I'll leave it at that. And that I've wished them all well. I wish them well on Fast 9. And I wish them the best of luck on Fast 10 and Fast 11 and the rest of the Fast & Furious movies they do that will be without me."
The final two Fast films (again, at least for now) are set to be directed by Justin Lin. Fast 10 currently has a tentative release date of 2022. That doesn't give Johnson much time to change his mind about appearing in the finale... although somehow I think he's made his peace with that.
Featured Image Credit: Universal