Hobbs Officially Returning to Fast Franchise
Universal and Vin Diesel finally smelled what The Rock was cooking. In a video message on his Twitter account, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson confirmed that his character, Luke Hobbs, is back in the Fast and Furious franchise.
https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/1664332676323483660
This isn’t a huge surprise for anyone who’s seen Fast X; the mid-credits scene left little doubt that The Rock would be back for the next outing in the series now that Jason Momoa’s fantastic villain Dante has set his sights on him. Rock teases a clash between Hobbs and Dante, which will undoubtedly be one of the high points of the next Fast movie. He also says that he and Vin Diesel have gotten past their differences and are “like brothers.” I don’t know how much of that is spin, but whatever happened between them (likely the thought of these Fast and Furious movies making more money), Hobbs will return.
But he’s not just back for whatever they end up calling the eleventh film in the series proper. In print above the video, Rock says he is going to star in a different movie, one with him in the lead that, according to The Hollywood Reporter, will serve as “a bridging chapter between Fast X and Fast 11 — more of a Fast X.5, if you will.” This, they say, will allow him to return to the franchise without having to share the screen with Diesel, who will not appear in this movie, although other Fast and Furious regulars are expected to show up (fingers crossed for Jason Statham). But, as THR admits later in their article, Rock’s Twitter video seems to tell a different story, and he certainly makes it sound like he’ll be in Fast 11.
The grass is always greener when James Gunn kicks you out of the DC Universe, I guess. Rock was putting all of his energy into shaping that world through his Black Adam, and when that fell apart, he didn’t have a franchise to fall back on other than Fast and Furious (unless they decide to make Jungle Cruise 2: Chaos in the Congo). And that’s fine with me; I prefer these movies when he’s around because he’s much more fun, cool, and charismatic than the “family.” I wonder if they’ll explore the implications at the end of Hobbs & Shaw when the mastermind behind the evil organization they fought revealed he was personally tied to Hobbs. Could it end up being Dante, who wants personal revenge on everyone who had a hand in killing his father? Perhaps, although that’s a little disappointing; I’d hoped that bad guy would be Hobbs’ nemesis, not one he’d have to share with Diesel. And as much as it would be fun to see more of Dante, I’d rather have this movie be resolved on its own. I’m getting tired of nothing being a self-contained story. But at least having Hobbs back means we’re in for some fun.
