We have officially seen the last of Luke Hobbs in the main Fast and Furious franchise. Dwayne Johnson said as much in an interview recently, but producer and president of production at Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions Hiram Garcia subsequently confirmed to Collider that Johnson will not appear in Fast & Furious 10 or Fast & Furious 11. The actor made his Fast debut in Fast Five and was immediately a scene-stealer, continuing to be a standout in Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, and Fate of the Furious. But it was after the eighth Fast film that Johnson decided to step away from the flagship series and carve out his own corner of the universe with the spinoff Hobbs & Shaw.
That film – which was an 80s buddy movie throwback that forced Johnson and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw to team up on their own adventure – was a hit when it was released in 2019, grossing $760 million worldwide, and it immediately spurred sequel talk.
I recently got the chance to speak with Garcia for an extended, exclusive interview about the many projects in development at Seven Bucks Productions and the release of Jungle Cruise in tandem with Disney, and he confirmed that a Hobbs & Shaw 2 is very much still in the works:
“At the moment we’re trying to figure out what that sequel is going to be, but we have some very big ideas.”
In March 2020, Johnson announced that Chris Morgan would be returning to write the screenplay for a Hobbs & Shaw sequel, and it sounds like that follow-up is still a priority for all involved – even if Johnson will not be returning for the final two Fast & Furious movies. Garcia confirmed not only that Johnson made the decision to close his Fast & Furious chapter “for all the evident reasons,” but that that decision has not impeded plans for building out the Hobbs & Shaw franchise:
“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 on to other story telling avenues. So while he will not be in F10 or F11, that won’t in any way interfere with our Hobbs plans. Obviously all these characters exist in the Fast universe and we love to see all aspects of that universe thrive and succeed. 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!”
Johnson recently wrapped a marathon production run that saw him moving from Hobbs & Shaw to Jumanji: The Next Level to Jungle Cruise to the upcoming Netflix thriller Red Notice to his DC Films debut Black Adam, so he’s taking a short breather (and working on Young Rock Season 2), but is expected to move onto his next project in 2022. That will likely not be Hobbs & Shaw 2 given that they're still trying to find the right story angle, but it’s clear from Garcia’s comments that the sequel is a priority for Seven Bucks and Universal Pictures.
Look for much more from my interview with Garcia on Collider soon.