I don’t think that anyone will debate the idea that the franchise has changed a lot over the years. What began in 2001 as a movie about street racers and low level criminals has developed into Dom Toretto and his crew turning into heist meisters who now regularly save the world from super criminals, with the action movies being known as the Fast Saga because of all the twists, turns and Fast and Furious timeline shenanigans. This change led to many wild scenes across nearly 25 years, including that infamous trip to space. Now, an NBC Universal boss has gotten real when asked about that bold move.
What An NBC Universal Exec Said About Fast And Furious Going To Space
Though the 2025 movie schedule isn’t set to give us another Fast Saga adventure, but Fast 11, a.k.a. Fast X: Part 2, is expected to be part of the 2026 movies. That film may or may not be the end of the long road for Dom and his “family,” but either way, one thing we know for sure is that it will likely surprise even long-time fans.
We don’t know much about the upcoming movie just yet, but it’s a real toss up as to whether or not it will thrill viewers in the same way Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, John Cena and many (many) other stars did in 2021. That was when F9 was released and featured a scene where Ludacris and Gibson’s characters literally took an old Pontiac Fiero into space. When discussing the adaptability of the franchise at the Toronto Film Festival (via Variety) recently, NBC Universal Chief, Donna Langley, bluntly said:
I’m sorry that we sent them into space.
Well, I honestly can’t think of another time that a studio boss has actually apologized for giving the greenlight to a wacky storyline in a movie, but OK, Donna.
Of course, while she did say it out loud to the assembled group of festival goers, it seems to me that she was maybe apologizing to herself more than anyone else. Before they pulled the rockets-on-a-car-to-space trigger, there had been rumors that such a thing would happen in the franchise one day. This was likely because the characters had already evolved so much and been involved in such crazy action sequences, that going to space somehow felt inevitable. I mean, even Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg predicted it! Take a look at how it went down:
As you can probably imagine, taking the characters to space, and in such an amazingly unrealistic and impractical way, got the franchise some heat. But, not enough for those who adore it to not watch Fast X, even if they do think the Fast Saga should have ended years ago. In fact, many fans have come to love the movies even more for how outlandish the plots and action sequences have become.
Langley continued, and noted that there is one major drawback to taking things so far when they did:
We can never get that genie back.
Oh, I don’t know, Donna. I can totally see a scenario where this franchise finally ends with Dom, Letty, Mia, Tej, Roman, Ramsey and whoever joins the crew next being set up in a colony on the moon to track international crime and potential evil alien activity for the governments of earth. At this point, it pretty much seems like the best way to wrap things up, I’d say.