It’s been known for a while now, but Dwayne Johnson won’t be a part of the Fast & Furious franchise no longer. His production house Seven Bucks Productions confirmed this news once again. But, it doesn’t mean he’ll be out of the cinematic universe this franchise spanned.
The main timeline will be stripped of the services of one Luke Hobbs. Dwayne Johnson already said no to this idea, citing personal differences. Now, the president of the production at Seven Bucks Productions Hiram Garcia confirmed this development. Fast & Furious 10 and Fast & Furious 11 are already partially in the works, but Johnson wanted to make it clear straight away he won’t be a part of them. In the past, The Rock appeared in four F&F movies including Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, and Fate of the Furious, with being introduced in Fast Five.
After the eighth installment in the series, it was Dwayne who decided to make a spin-off together with Jason Statham. The standalone movie titled Hobbs & Shaw was a success from the start, managing to earn over $700 million at the box office. The buddy action- adventure showed great chemistry between Johnson and Statham and the talk about a possible sequel already started circling.
Hobbs & Shaw 2 is in the works, despite Johnson being busy with such projects as Disney’s Jungle Cruise. The man knows how to dominate the box office, and Jungle Cruise is posited to make a great return. The same is expected from the upcoming Hobbs & Shaw 2 and Hiram Garcia was the one discussing the potential blockbuster. During an interview with the Collider, he said: “At the moment we’re trying to figure out what that sequel is going to be, but we have some very big ideas. After filming Fast 8 DJ made the clear decision to close the Fast & Furious chapter for all the evident reasons. He wished them all well and shifted our focus to other storytelling avenues. So while he will not be in F10 or F11, that won’t in any way interfere with our Hobbs plans.”
Johnson is without a doubt a star that could take any franchise on his back, but working n F&F was just too much, considering the toxic environment and constant feuds. He decided to step back from the main timeline instead of focusing on projects such as Hobbs & Shaw, Jumanji: The Next Level, Jungle Cruise, Netflix thriller Red Notice, and his DC Films debut project, Black Adam.
While Hobbs&Shaw 2 might be far away at this point, Garcia said that they already have a plan: “We just have specific plans for what we want to do with the Hobbs character and I think the fans are going to love it! We’re working to deliver something very unique and fresh and we know the studio is eager for us to get into it ASAP!”
While fans were down because of Johnson’s absence from the latest F&F project F9, they’ll be glad to hear he’s still going to be a part of the in-universe story. Of course, it’s possible that he and Diesel could reconcile down the road, but we wouldn’t bet on it. In the mid-time, Dwayne Johnson and his Seven Bucks company remain focused on making their path with Hobbs&Shaw.
Nina Smith 