Sung Kang Says 'Justice For Han' Has a Different Meaning After 'Fast X'

This story contains spoilers for Fast X.

Han, you won’t be riding solo for much longer!

After Sung Kang’s fan-favorite character rose from the dead in F9, the love of his Fast & Furious life has now done the same. In the final moments of the latest installment, Fast X, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and Cipher (Charlize Theron) escape from the Agency’s black site in Antarctica. Suddenly, a submarine rises from below the ice, revealing a wonderful surprise passenger: Gisele (Gal Gadot), who was last seen sacrificing herself to save Han in 2013’s Fast & Furious 6. “Still think my plan sucks?” asks Cipher. Hell no, we don’t!

Unfortunately, this moment arrived shortly after a plane carrying Han, Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), and Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), appeared to crash and explode. To be fair, Han has already endured a car accident and an explosion, so a plane crash seems survivable. Meanwhile, earlier in Fast X, Han reunited with the original man who tried to kill him. The action caught up to the F9 mid-credits scene, which found Han knocking on the door of Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham). Shaw’s introduction in the Fast world arrived when he killed Han, or so the audience—and Shaw himself—believed.

Kang and Fast filmmaker Justin Lin departed the franchise following Fast 6. But Shaw’s transition from villain to hero caused many fans to start calling for “justice for Han,” eventually leading to Kang and Lin's F9 return. The longtime friends, who debuted the character in the 2003 indie Better Luck Tomorrow, were set to keep telling Han’s story, only for Lin to depart Fast X a week into filming—with Louis Leterrier quickly coming aboard to replace him.

Fast X serves as the first installment of a two-part finale for the franchise, and sets up a thrilling and emotional conclusion. With the beginning of the end underway, we had a spoiler-heavy chat with Kang about Gisele, Shaw, and… Pete Davidson?

ESQUIRE: Everything with Han always feels so secretive going into these films. Is it a relief when you can finally openly talk about it all?

SUNG KANG: It’s really easy to be excited about this film—Fast X is so good. As someone who’s been in this franchise for all this time, it was great to see this film be refreshed, and for us to also be OK with aging into a character. Because, in the back of my head, I'm going, Is it time to throw in the towel? Are we going to age out soon? Hollywood is very fickle, but because we grew up with the characters, I love Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) with a few wrinkles on his face. It's earned, right? As a car guy, it’s honest; it’s like leather being broken in. I'm proud of the people that came together to believe in an old franchise that could easily be now put on the back-burner.

Now a couple years removed from your official return in F9, are you still feeling the Han momentum from the fans? They basically willed you back into the franchise.

If it wasn't for the fans, you and I would not be talking right now. So, what a beautiful Hollywood story to be a part of. After playing Han, I got a metaphoric garage clicker for everyone's life. Everybody wants to share their car history, what they're driving, what their project car is, and their relationship to the franchise and the character. I get a taste of what it feels like to be a sports hero, like Michael Jordan or Babe Ruth, and people just assume that I'm some professional driver or mechanic—and I'm not. It’s pretty cool to be a symbol of something that people aspire to be on a personal level: family-centric, loyal, does the right thing, and has some really sick cars.

So in Fast X, Han’s just dead again, huh? Him, Roman, Tej, Ramsey, gone for good. Is that the official company line?

I hope not! If you dissect that scene, there's enough time that maybe they got a getaway. You saw the plane go down and then it goes behind the mountain. Derek, it’s Fast & Furious, every character comes back! [Laughs.] No one dies, man.

I was going to say, it would be a lot of work to try and sneak all of you guys onto set each day.

It's good for the fans to miss them. When something is taken away, you then really appreciate it. That’s what happened with Han; they liked him so much when he was gone that they had a desire to see this old familiar friend. You’ve got four beloved characters—it's going to cause a ruckus. That's great for word of mouth for the film, so it's genius by whomever came up with it!

Han can’t be dead, since we finally have Gisele back! When that submarine hatch opened, out loud in the theater, I said, “Oh my god,” because I knew who it had to be. Did you have a similar reaction when you found out Gal was officially returning?

I knew it was inevitable. First, we're talking about Fast, and an audience that is now used to getting what they want when they ask for a character to come back. Because of where Gal's career has gone with Wonder Woman, and the goodwill and love that she has from people around the world, it's awesome that another franchise can help our franchise. This past year has been a renaissance for the moviegoing experience, with wonderful films like Top Gun: Maverick giving this resurgence to how we fell in love with films. And so for Gal to have that type of reaction with the audience, that’s what we want to hear.

Have you been able to discuss the future of Han and Gisele yet with Gal?

No, I haven't. She's been so busy, but I had heard through the grapevine that they were having conversations with her—and then when they put that tag in, they always lead with, "Don't tell anybody." [Laughs.] And I'm like, “So many people within the circle have already seen this!” But I knew; something in my gut said that the fans would enjoy seeing her come back.

Obviously we want the Gisele and Han reunion, but my initial reaction to that scene was that I’d watch the hell out of a Gal Gadot, Michelle Rodriguez, and Charlize Theron movie.

That could happen. Universal chairman Donna Langley has always been forward-thinking in terms of where the franchise could go, and so there have been conversations about having a female Fast & Furious spinoff. Sometimes when you watch an action film, it's so male-centric, very alpha. But when the Fast women fight, dude, it's not a walkaway moment. It's like, "Holy shit." Michelle and Charlize is varsity team action. They’re the real deal.

You and Jason Statham worked together on the film War. You told me that right before you shot Tokyo Drift, you and Statham had this almost kismet interaction about it. And then for so long there has been all this talk about Han and Shaw, but you never filmed anything together in the franchise. How did it feel to have this moment that is two decades in the making?

It’s uncanny, odd, and spooky. I was a supporting character in that film, and I don't think Jason even knew my name at that time. But we ran into each other at the airport and he politely asked where I was going. I said, “I'm going to go do this Fast & Furious movie.” And he goes, "That's a good thing to be a part of,” and I was like, "Oh, I hope so!" Then, years later, being able to share the screen with him? He’s someone who I consider a master of his craft, because he's been able to carve out a unique angle to this action hero, and he does it in the Statham way. I’m not a martial artist, but to work alongside and learn from one of your heroes is pretty cool.

Post-Fast X and this Han-Shaw interaction, where do we stand in the process of “justice for Han”?

We used the fighting backdrop to also create a teaching moment, in that Han could have went in there and just been like, "OK, we're going to duke it out." But Han is trying to explain, "I'm not here to fight, because you didn't kill anybody. You were set up to look like the bad guy, but you were used to help me disappear and raise my daughter and live in secrecy." It was all a cover, so what is the justice that is being served here? To have that dialogue and fight, we used that and the mythology to give a definitive why. No longer is he a villain—he’s now part of the family, officially. Because of what Dante (Jason Momoa) has done, Dom now has to find revenge and justice for Han and the other friends and family members. So it's not just justice for Han. It's overall justice. I'm not giving anything away, because no one has talked to me—but I think the next title could even be Fast & Furious 11: Justice for Family. [Laughs.]

Considering your relationship with Justin, how tough was it for you to see him step down as Fast X’s director?

It's sad to lose any family member. He’s not forgotten. All that Brazil footage in Fast X from Fast Five was his work, his vision. You see his fingerprint on how he defined the world of Fast & Furious and helped build the mythology, the characters, and the action sequences. What a true passing of the baton when a director from the past is OK with the director of the present using their footage to incorporate into their story. It was done so seamlessly and respectfully. At the end of the day, a movie's bigger than just one person. Each of us are just a piece of the puzzle. So it's sad, but then it's also life. We gain, we lose, and we miss.

I perked up when Pete Davidson showed up for a hilarious scene opposite you, Ludacris, Tyrese, and Nathalie Emmanuel.

The experience with Pete Davidson reminds me of the phrase, "Never judge a book by its cover." You see what you read and see on TV, but Pete was the ultimate professional. A seasoned performer who knows how to contribute, keep the energy up, and be focused and true to the character. It’s great to have someone that has a mastery of comedy and timing, and is able to weave that into a new group of people. Give credit to the Fast family, because everyone is always so welcoming—we know it's power in numbers. It’s pretty awesome that Fast can merit bringing in these huge cameos and have guests like Pete add their magic sauce.

Have you thought about what it will be like closing the Fast & Furious chapter of your life?

I won't know the impact and the emotion that it's going to bring out until we get there, but saying goodbye to people you love and you've spent half your life with is going to be hard. We grew up together. I’ve seen these people have children and send kids to high school. We’ve experienced loss and disappointments together. There’s a bond that is formed. So it’s going to be sad, because it's real. If we had a bunch of numbskulls that I didn't want to be around, it’s easy to check out. But this, it's hard, man. And it’s going to be hard for the audience. It's Hollywood, though, so they can reboot it with younger actors. But what we created together is our moment, our history, our life, our novel. So, in every way, it’s been such a beautiful journey.

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