When Fast & Furious fans witnessed the cliffhanger conclusion of Fast X back in summer 2023, the assumption at the time was that a follow-up was right around the corner… but you know what they say about assumptions, right? The future of the franchise was held in limbo for a few years following the blockbuster, but now, wheels are finally turning with the development of Fast Forever. Not a lot is presently known about the upcoming sequel, as lips are being kept sealed, but Donna Langley, chair of NBCUniversal Entertainment, has at least confirmed one key detail about the project: it will be set where the whole epic saga began.
The executive talks about the project in a recent interview with Variety, though she makes it very clear that there is far more that she can’t say about the movie than she can. There are a lot of questions swirling around following the Fast X ending regarding certain characters’ fates and resurrections of others, but she wouldn’t spill the beans about anything, instead deferring to star Vin Diesel, who is known to post about personal news on his Instagram. Said Langley,
We’re keeping it under wraps! Follow Vin Diesel — if there’s breaking news he’ll be the one to do it.
Will Dom Torretto and his son survive the wall of water and rocks set to rain down on them from the dam blown up by Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes? Are Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), and Han (Han Lue) still alive after their plane exploded? What can we expect from the return of Luke Hobbes (Dwayne Johnson)? How is Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot) still alive? Donna Langley isn’t saying anything right now.
The one thing she does talk about is the Los Angeles setting of Fast Forever. Since the release of Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift and the evolution of the franchise that started with Fast Five, the focus of the series has been more global, but the tenth sequel will bring the story back to Southern California and the focus back to the culture that launched everything. Langley explained that production will take place on location in Los Angeles, saying,
The franchise started in LA. It really has its roots, firmly planted in LA car culture, and in some ways, this movie is absolutely a tribute to that culture and a tribute to Los Angeles. Some of the story, not all of it, does take place in Los Angeles. We’re just in the process of getting a production plan together, but it is absolutely our hope that we can bring some of the production back to Los Angeles and California. I think we as an industry are very focused in revitalizing the industry here as much as we can.
There is still a lot of time before the film needs to be in production. Fast Forever isn’t dated for this year or next year, but instead for the year after that – as the project has planted a flag in a March 17, 2028 release date. We’ll surely hear a lot more about what to expect from the blockbuster between now and then, so keep checking back here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest updates.