The last few weeks have been nothing but turmoil within the Fast & Furious family, and it's time for daddy to step in and calm things down. Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson had beef during the Fate of the Furious shoot, which is why they shared no screen time together. It all boiled over when Johnson and Jason Statham were given their own spinoff, and Tyrese took to social media to claim they were breaking up the band. On top of all that there was Michelle Rodriguez, who has dared to leave the franchise if it doesn't start treating the female characters better.
Well, it looks like Diesel has taken steps to address all of it. He recently promised there would be some "exciting" news coming, and he took to Facebook Live to reveal that things were going back to basics. Returning to direct Fast 9 & 10 will be Justin Lin, the director largely responsible for turning everything around. He was behind the wheel for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth movies before stepping aside, which allowed James Wan and F. Gary Gray to direct the next two chapters. There have been rumors of Lin's return ever since he left, so this isn't much of a shock. If anybody deserves to be there to wrap things up (presumably), it's Lin.
Another who should be there at the end is Jordana Brewster, and Diesel re-introduced her next. Brewster was also around since the very beginning as Dom Toretto's sister, Mia. She was married to Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner, but when Walker died and Brian was written off after Fast 7, Mia went along with him.
According to Diesel, who was broadcasting from a "top secret" location that looks like a Fast & Furious garage set (Why else would Lin and Brewster be there, also?), it was Lin who requested to have Brewster return because she was such an integral part of the family. The irony is that Lin oversaw her character's diminishing role in recent years, but I expect she will make a big splash upon her return. The same thing happened when Rodriguez and Diesel both left the franchise for a while. They came back with bigger roles than ever.
I will continue to wait for the video where Diesel announces that Sung Kang and Gal Gadot are back as Han and Gisele, and will be getting their own spinoff.
