We’re Getting a Female Fast and Furious Spin-Off Whether We Want It or Not
Ladies, start your engines.
If you had told me in 2001 that The Fast and The Furious, a highly forgettable car racing film, would spawn a multi-billion dollar franchise and become a global phenomenon, I would have rolled my eyes, put on my trucker hat, and called you a dummy.
Well, the joke’s on me, because nearly twenty years later the franchise continues to expand and has developed a beloved following all over the world. I would have put my money on trucker hats, TBH.
With chapters 9 and 10 of the franchise set for 2020 and 2021, star Vin Diesel has said that the franchise will be wrapping up after the tenth film. Of course, Universal would never let such a profitable series die, so a slew of spin-off projects have been announced. There is the highly anticipated Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, which will feature Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham reprising their roles which hits theaters in August.
And now, it’s been confirmed that an all-female spin-off is in the works with three female screenwriters attached. Vin Diesel made the announcement in an Instagram post, welcoming writers Nicole Perlman, Lindsey Beer, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet to the project.
All three women have impressive credentials: Perlman has written on Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel, and Detective Pikachu. Beer has scripted Sierra Burgess is a Loser, and is set to write the upcoming Silver Sable film and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. Robertson-Dworet wrote the Tomb Raider reboot and worked on Captain Marvel.
The film will presumably center on Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) and Mia (Jordana Brewster) and may also include hacker Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) who joined the franchise in Furious 7. Also in play is Charlize Theron’s Cipher, who was the main antagonist of 2017’s The Fate of the Furious, and potentially Gal Gadot’s Gisele, who died in Fast & Furious 6. After all, the franchise has a penchant for time-hopping and bringing characters back from the dead.
Okay, as much as I enjoy this franchise and the women in it, I’m not sure if I’m totally on board for an all-female spin-off. I like all of these actresses, but the all-female spin-off trend often seems like it is set up to fail. For one, these films are forever compared to their male counterparts. And besides, why not do a better job of integrating the female characters into the upcoming sequels instead of shuffling them off to their own film?
Then, of course, there’s the originality argument. I would rather see Michelle Rodriguez topline her own new action franchise than just rehash the same character she’s played for nearly two decades. Given her terrific performance in Widows, she’s clearly capable of more than what the Fast and Furious franchise has to offer.
At the end of the day, who am I kidding, I will obviously see this movie. Hollywood still refuses to bank on original female-driven stories, and the only way we will get these all-star female films is by piggybacking off of the success of male-led films. It’s frustrating, but it’s hardly surprising given the way the industry treats women and female-driven stories. Hopefully that will change in the future, but in the meantime, I guess we’re getting tickets to see these women drive those cars real fast.
(via /Film, image: Universal)
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