With just a few days to go until the premiere of Fast X and some major spoilers circulating the internet, it’s time to talk about the roads that the franchise will take in these last chapters. In an interview with Collider, the new director Louis Leterrier explained that at this point it’s inevitable that some characters won’t make it to the end of the race – especially with a new and ruthless villain who targets Dom Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) family and forces him to choose who to save.
During the interview, Leterrier told our own Editor-in-Chief Steve Weintraub that, as he came a little late into the game after long-time franchise director Justin Lin abruptly exited the production, the script was already done and filming was already underway. However, the filmmaker had access to future screenplays so that he could make informed decisions during his approach to Fast X. Before explaining how that went, though, he jokingly said that the cast had to beg for their characters to stay alive.
"The actors had to write letters to beg me to keep their characters alive, and I deemed them worthy. No, spoiler-free obviously, but some were written in the script and then some– Let's say that, you know, because I went deeper than this one movie, I saw further, and I was like, “Oh, I know what I want.” And there's some actions and hard, harsh decisions I had to make because I knew what was coming in the next movie."
The Finish Line Is Near for Fast & Furious
As you might know, Fast X is the beginning of the end of the film series. The new installment features a callback to Fast Five, and reveals that Dom and Brian’s (Paul Walker) massive safe heist in Rio spawned a new enemy that has been planning revenge for years. On top of that, old franchise villains are also resurfacing to either help or get in the way of Dom’s journey. Originally advertised as the second-to-last entry in the flagship franchise, Fast X might be gearing up to be the start of a trilogy that sends the Toretto family off into the sunset.
The star-studded cast of Fast X features Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, John Cena, Sun Kang, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jason Statham, Helen Mirren, Scott Eastwood, Daniela Melchior, Charlize Theron, Alan Ritchson, Brie Larson, Jason Momoa and Rita Moreno
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Fast X premieres in theaters this Friday, May 19. You can watch the latest trailer below: