Alan Ritchson has revealed that his villain role in Fast X was originally intended for Keanu Reeves. Ritchson, who portrays the antagonist character of Aimes in the latest instalment of The Fast and the Furious franchise, said that Reeves was in talks to join the cast before “a little stroke of luck and good timing” swung the role to his direction instead.
“I got a call that things had shifted in the plans with Keanu Reeves, which is I think who was originally intended to play my part,” Ritchson told Entertainment Weekly. The Fast X star described superseding Reeves as a “tough act to follow,” but he wasn’t certain of his role in the film until he received a call from producer Jeff Kirschenbaum, who informed him of the exit of longtime Fast franchise director, Justin Lin.
“[Jeff] was like, ‘We’re excited to work with you, but we’ve decided to go our separate ways with Justin,’” Ritchson recalled. “So I’m very grateful that it worked out.” Ritchson, who elsewhere portrayed a villain in 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, credits the behind-the-scenes change of director to him landing the role of Aimes in Fast X, but it wasn’t the first time Reeves was considered to join the cast.
In 2019, Fast and the Furious franchise writer Chris Morgan confirmed that Reeves was in talks to join the spinoff Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, saying he wanted the John Wick star “to be in the Fast universe for a very long time.” Morgan continued: “The hardest thing is always time and competing schedules and then designing the right thing together. My fervent desire is to bring him into this franchise for sure.”
It’s one of multiple revelations Ritchson has spoken about regarding Fast X, with the actor boldly claiming that the latest instalment is “the best one in the franchise so far.” Elsewhere, Ritchson let slip a Fast X twist that was left on the cutting room floor, in which Aimes is revealed to be the brother of Jason Mamoa’s Dante. It’s a stretch of the imagination, perhaps even too lofty for Fast and the Furious, which has essentially become a Marvel franchise on wheels since its first entry premiered in 2001.