Vin Diesel has teased that Fast & Furious 11 will go back to the franchise’s street-level roots to bring the series full circle, but it’s much, much too late for that. When the Fast & Furious timeline began in 2001 with The Fast and the Furious, it was a relatively grounded action drama. It told the Point Break-esque story of an FBI agent going undercover in an illegal street racing operation and being so charmed by their charismatic ringleader that he didn’t want to turn him in. For the first couple of sequels, the franchise maintained this semi-grounded approach.
But around Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6, when cars were dragging a stolen vault through the streets and a tank was tearing across a highway, that realism was long gone. Furious 7 opens with cars skydiving. The Fate of the Furious has The Rock redirecting a missile with his bare hands. Fast & Furious 11 is being pitched as the final movie, although there’s been some debate as to whether or not it will actually end the series, and Diesel wants to go back to the franchise’s roots. But The Fast Saga is too far gone for that.
Fast & Furious 11 Can’t Possibly Be The “Street Level” Story The Fast Saga Once Was
The Fast Saga Is Way Beyond “Street Level” At This Point
It might be a neat idea on paper for Fast & Furious 11 to bring the franchise full circle and go back to its relatively grounded roots with a street-level story, but this franchise is way beyond street-level at this point. Once a series has had cars jumping between skyscrapers and swinging across the jungle — and even going into outer space — any possibility for realism has gone out the window. Fast 11 can’t just ignore all the leaps in logic that previous sequels have taken and go back to square one.
Fast XI
is scheduled to be released in 2026.
Some of the later Fast & Furious movies have featured street racing sequences as a throwback to the series’ origins, but that’s not the underlying premise anymore. Dom Toretto and his crew aren’t just street racers anymore; they’re black-ops mercenaries recruited by the government to carry out secret missions. There’s no way to tell a grounded story with that premise. The very idea that the government would recruit a bunch of carjackers and mechanics as some kind of Suicide Squad is, by its very nature, un-grounded. The Fast Saga has evolved into a far-fetched fantasy.
Fast X’s Cliffhanger Ending Has Put Fast & Furious 11 In A Difficult Position
Fast & Furious 11 Is Beholden To Fast X’s Ending
The final act of Fast X has painted Fast 11 into a corner. Roman, Tej, Han, and Ramsey were all flying on a plane that got shot down. Alan Ritchson’s Aimes was revealed to be a double agent working with Dante, setting him up for a villain arc. Dom and Little B drove off the edge of a dam to avoid Dante’s traps, then Dante revealed that was all part of the plan and blew up the dam. Dom and Little B were last seen driving down a dam, being chased by a giant explosion.
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Predicting The Ending Of All 13 Fast & Furious Characters In Fast 11
The Fast Saga is set to conclude with Fast & Furious 11 – or Fast X 2 – but how will Dom Toretto and his family’s stories come to a definitive end?
Since Fast & Furious 11 has to follow on directly from that cliffhanger, there’s no way it can be a grounded, street-level story. No movie that has to begin with two characters driving down an exploding dam and inevitably surviving the blast can be described as street-level. The only way to open a grounded movie with those setups is if six of the main heroes — including Dom — die in the first few minutes. Naturally, most of them will survive those cliffhanger conflicts (if not all of them), so it’ll be another far-fetched Fast & Furious outing.
Fast & Furious 11 Will Struggle To Deal With That Many Characters & Stories
Fast X Has Left A Lot Of Characters & Plot Threads Hanging
Fast & Furious 11 is supposed to be the big finale, but it’s going to seriously struggle to wrap everything up. When the Marvel Cinematic Universe did its own two-part conclusion to an epic saga — Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame — the cliffhanger ending of the first part brought everyone together with a common goal. In Endgame, the surviving Avengers were galvanized by the goal of defeating Thanos. The Fast & Furious franchise doesn’t have everything streamlined like that, with a clear ending in sight. The characters and storylines are all over the place.
It’s no wonder the filmmakers are struggling to put together a cohesive story for Fast & Furious 11 — it’s balancing a lot of plates.
At the end of Fast X, everyone is doing their own thing. Dom and his son are driving down an exploding dam, Luke Hobbs is encouraging Dante to come after him, and Gisele has broken Letty and Cipher out of prison. It’s no wonder the filmmakers are struggling to put together a cohesive story for Fast & Furious 11 — it’s balancing a lot of plates. There are way too many storylines up in the air for Fast & Furious 11 to just ditch it all and go back to a simple street racing adventure.
Fast X: Part 2
Fast X: Part 2 is the eleventh installment in The Fast Saga. It continues the high-octane adventures of Dom Toretto and his crew as they face new challenges and adversaries. Known for its explosive action sequences, the film builds on the franchise’s legacy of fast cars and family loyalty.
- Director
- Louis Leterrier
- Writers
- Christina Hodson , Oren Uziel
