Back in April, Vin Diesel set tongues wagging when he hinted that John Cena could be joining the cast of Fast and Furious 9. Today, that casting has been officially confirmed, with Universal announcing that the iconic professional wrestler and actor is part of the movie.
Precisely who he’s going to be playing in the film is as yet under wraps, but it’s being reported that he’ll portray a “badass.” Given that pretty much every character in the Fast and Furious franchise is a badass of some description though, that doesn’t exactly narrow things down.
One reason the movie might’ve been looking for someone of Cena’s stature is the (possibly temporary) departure of Dwayne Johnson, whose absence will leave a hyper-muscled spot in the project that Cena will snugly fit into. As yet, we don’t know precisely what Fast and Furious 9 will be about, but with a story and direction by Justin Lin, I see no good reason why it can’t provide the pure cinematic adrenaline shot we’ve become accustomed to from this venerable franchise.
Current plans for the saga are for an explosive conclusion in Fast and Furious 10, so expect this film to begin laying the groundwork to wrap up so many happy years of cars exploding, cars smashing through buildings, cars falling out of aeroplanes, and cars speeding away from submarines. Given the craziness we’ve seen so far, it’s going to be fascinating watching the franchise do its best to top itself in these final two movies.
But while there may only two mainline films left in the saga, that doesn’t include spinoffs. The first of these, the delectable looking Hobbs & Shaw, featuring Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and Idris Elba (be still my beating heart) drops in just a few weeks on August 2nd. Beyond that, we can expect to see Fast and Furious 9 landing with a squeal of tires on April 10th, 2020.