Universal Considering 'Fast and Furious' Spin-off With Johnson, Statham and Theron
Warning: Minor spoilers from The Fate of the Furious below.
With Fate of the Furious speeding past box-office records, Universal Pictures is now considering expanding the Fast and Furious universe and looking at some of the franchise’s favorite characters for a spin-off.
Sources tell Variety that the studio is considering a spin-off featuring Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs, Jason Statham’s Decker Shaw, and Charlize Theron’s Cipher with series architect Chris Morgan penning the script.
Plans for a spin-off are so preliminary that no script has been written and all three actors are far from committed to coming on board. The idea of a spin-off has been thrown around ever since Johnson’s character entered the franchise in Fast Five, given the instant popularity of his character.
Since Universal had no plan on how to move forward with such a spin-off, the idea stayed in development until Statham joined the series in the seventh pic, heating up the plan again especially since the he and Johnson have had incredible chemistry in the last two films.
The Theron addition has only recently been considered by the studio given how well the villain went over in the latest pic and since she does escape in the end, there is an opening for her to appear not just in the next Fast and Furious film but in possible spin-offs as well.
While the spin-off is in very early stages, the concept would be Johnson and Statham teaming up to go after Theron’s character. A start date is also another hurdle that would have to be overcome given each actor’s busy schedules.
Johnson is booked till the start of 2018 and Theron constantly considering numerous projects that could go at any time. There is a possibility something could come together before the next Fast and Furious pic since that film does not have a script at this time but again it all depends on locking in talent and Morgan delivering a script.
Universal does not comment on speculative projects.
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