Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Mike Redmond | News | October 7, 2025
During the California wildfires back in January, Vin Diesel threatened the populace by promising to return the Fast & Furious franchise to the streets of Los Angeles where it belongs. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Diesel has become obsessed with bringing Paul Walker back to the franchise, which will naturally involve some sort of unholy AI necromancy.
Over the summer, Diesel took the stage at FuelFest and made some bold proclamations, as he often does. According to Diesel, Universal execs begged him to deliver the follow-up to Fast X by April 2027. Because Big Vin calls the shots around here, he told the crowd that he had some very specific demands before he resumes living his life a quarter mile at a time.
Via THR:
“Just yesterday I was with Universal Studios. … The studio said to me, ‘Vin, can we please have the finale of Fast & Furious [in] April 2027?’ I said, ‘Under three conditions because I’ve been listening to my fan base.’”“The first is to bring the franchise back to L.A.,” he said before adding, “The second thing was to return to the car culture, to the street racing.”
Diesel concluded with his last wish: “The third thing was reuniting Dom and Brian O’Conner. That is what you’re going to get in the finale.”
What Diesel didn’t mention is that Fast X was such a disaster that Universal wants the final movie to cut $140 million from its budget, according to a damning new report from The Wall Street Journal. In fact, things are so bad, that Fast X might literally be the last Fast & Furious movie:
Behind the scenes, however, the conversation around the future of the Fast & Furious franchise is very different, according to people familiar with the matter. The next sequel doesn’t have an approved script or a release date. Most of the cast don’t have deals to appear in it. Executives at Universal aren’t even certain they’ll make the movie unless they and the filmmakers can find a way to produce it far more economically than the last installment, which barely earned a profit.
Of course, none of this should be a surprise after director Justin Lin quit Fast X just days into filming after a “major disagreement” with Vin Diesel. Lin had delivered blockbuster after blockbuster for the franchise, and he finally had enough. No amount of money was worth the headache.
The resulting product ended up being a honking turd filled with rushed CGI, a nonsensical plot even for a franchise that once let Ludacris drive a car in space, and some expensive landmines for Universal. It teased not only the return of The Rock but also Gal Gadot, as well as adding big names like Jason Momoa and Brie Larson to the mix. Now, you have Vin out here demanding the return of Paul Walker, which won’t be cheap either. There’s also the matter of the lawsuit against Diesel, which contains some very serious allegations that could easily pop back into the headlines.
In short, all signs are pointing to Fast & Furious running out of road, but don’t take my word for it. Here’s what former Universal chair Stacey Snyder told the WSJ.
“It was about fast cars and girls in short shorts,” she said. “It wasn’t designed to be a 25-year franchise.”
