Vin Diesel knows exactly which buttons to press to get Fast & Furious fans started up. The actor recently hopped onto Instagram and posted a photo of Dom Toretto’s legendary 1970 Dodge Charger R/T. Within hours, the post had over 335,000 likes, and the comments section was full of heart emojis. Apparently, an image of that muscle car is still all that’s needed to get the family going.
Fast Forever Release Date Confirmed For March 17, 2028
Earlier this year, Universal confirmed that the next film in the series will be titled Fast Forever and will race into movie theaters on March 17, 2028. It follows Fast X, which director Louis Leterrier released in 2023. That’s a long gap between movies for this franchise.
Vin Diesel Honors Paul Walker While Announcing Fast Forever
With the announcement, Diesel also shared a photo with his late co-star Paul Walker. Fans still remember Walker’s Brian O’Conner, whose final scenes in Furious 7 were completed with CGI and help from brothers Caleb and Cody Walker after the actor died in November 2013. Diesel wrote, “No one said the road would be easy… but it’s ours. One that has defined us and become our legacy… And a legacy… lasts Forever. March 17th 2028! FAST FOREVER.”
The Fast & Furious Franchise’s $7 Billion Legacy
The franchise that started with 2001’s The Fast and the Furious has now earned over $7 billion worldwide. And Diesel has already teased what longtime fans want most in Fast Forever: street racing again, plus a reunion between Dom and Brian. After two decades of explosions, space trips, and tank chases, the finale may bring the saga back to the streets where it all started.
Why Was Fast Forever Delayed?
Universal planned to wrap up the Fast & Furious saga years ago. Now Fast Forever sits on the calendar for March 17, 2028. Quite a trip for a film first pitched as a 2025 release.
Back on April 19, 2023, Louis Leterrier signed on to direct the Fast X follow-up. Five days later, Christina Hodson and Oren Uziel joined as writers. Vin Diesel even told CinemaCon the eleventh film would hit theaters in 2025. Then Hollywood shut down. The 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes stalled development.
After Fast X earned less than expected against its huge budget, Universal started treating the next chapter as the finale. Reports suggested a smaller story, one mission, and a new villain instead of Jason Momoa’s Dante.
Fast & Furious 11 Script Changes And Release Date Shifts
Plans for the film kept shifting. In February 2024, Diesel confirmed the franchise would end with film eleven. By May, Leterrier pushed the date to 2026. A month later, Zach Dean replaced the earlier writers.
The delays didn’t stop there. Diesel told fans in June 2025 that the movie would arrive in April 2027 and teased a return to the franchise’s street-racing roots. He also dropped a bombshell: Brian O’Conner would return.
Universal Considered Cancelling Fast Forever
Then things got even messier. On October 3, 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported Universal might cancel Fast Forever if the budget crossed $200 million. The studio even discussed trimming the cast.
Now, after more than two decades, Dominic Toretto’s final ride to the finish line is coming. Fast.
Fast & Furious Cars Heading To The Petersen Automotive Museum
If you ever wanted to stand next to the cars that launched a global street-racing obsession, March might be your moment. The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles opens a Fast and Furious vehicle exhibit on March 14, marking 25 years since the first film raced into cinemas in June 2001.
Diesel celebrated early during a “Sunday family dinner” with Meadow Walker, Paul Walker’s daughter. Talking about the display, Diesel laughed, “our cars from Fast and Furious are going to be — featured? Premiered? Shown?” Meadow jumped in: “Yeah, on display? I don’t know.” Diesel finished the thought: “At the Petersen car museum.”
Meadow said merchandise from the Paul Walker Foundation will be available at the museum. The organisation, which she founded after Walker died in 2013 at age 40, supports ocean conservation and wildlife protection.
Diesel seemed ready for the celebration. “Something that warmed my heart was when Meadow talked to the whole family about how excited she was,” he said.
Could That Fast & Furious And Jurassic World Crossover Still Happen?
F9 director Justin Lin and actress Michelle Rodriguez didn’t shoot down the possibility of a Fast And Furious And Jurassic World crossover movie. “Never say never.” That’s always been the motto behind the creation of the Fast and the Furious scripts. In one film, a character might die, and in the next, they could return. In one film, Dom could win a street race against a souped-up Porsche using a 1972 VW Beetle, and, in the next film, they might be off to space. You just never know what’s going to happen.
The Fast and The Furious team might even race against dinosaurs in a Jurassic World crossover film. And since both films are under the same Universal umbrella, it’s not as ridiculous as it might sound.
During a virtual F9 press conference, Justin Lin was asked if the two worlds could collide. To the surprise of everyone, the director seemed open to the idea: “Well, I’ve never said never to anything. And the fact that part of our philosophy is not to ever be boxed in or labelled. And that’s all I will say.”
Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Letty Ortiz in the Fast and The Furious franchise, was even more open about the Jurassic Park crossover idea:
“Once you reach a certain pinnacle, there’s nowhere to go but to cross brand and merge, it’s what big corporations do with each other when they get too big, you know what I mean? You just have to brand and merge with each other. But the only thing standing in the way is lawyers and studios. Because, usually the brands that you’re trying to merge belong to different studios or whatever. But it’s under the same umbrella. I don’t know. I’m just saying. It works.”
Will Eva Mendes Return To Fast And The Furious?
Over the years, the Fast and the Furious franchise has had its fair share of Hollywood royalty starring in one or two of its many sequels. Long time fans of the series have become used to seeing some characters that only appear for one or two films, never to return to the series once their role is done. However, there’s one character that’s become an undisputed fan favourite, even though she’s only been seen in two of the franchise’s films, and that is Agent Monica Fuentes. Played by Eva Mendes, there seems to be more than enough info pointing towards Mendes’ return to the Fast and the Furious franchise, perhaps even coming back for the series’ eleventh film.
Agent Fuentes first appeared in the series’ first sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious. An undercover U.S. Customs agent, Fuentes introduced Paul Walker’s character, Brian O’Connor, to the inner circle of the Argentinian drug lord Carter Verone. Since then, she’s been conspicuously missing from the series, only reappearing in a mid-credits scene in the series’ fifth entry, Fast Five. Her absence is made all the most obvious because she was one of the series’ earliest love interests for Brian until she was replaced with Mia Toretto.
An acting powerhouse, Eva Mendes has proved to be a talented actress who can fit well in action roles and more dramatic ones. Fans have voiced their interest in seeing her return to the franchise, something that could very well happen in the near future.
The good news is that Mendes, who has been on an acting break since she was last seen in 2014 as a cabaret show performer in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, Lost River, is ready to return to acting. The bad news is that she told EW, “I have such a short list of what I will do, before kids I kinda was up for anything. I mean, if it was a fun project. But now I won’t do violence, I don’t want to do sexuality, the list is short.” That probably means that the Fast movies, known for their PG violence and sexuality, are probably out.
But if Vin Diesel can convince The Rock to return, anything is possible, right? Maybe Eva Mendes will return for Fast & Furious 11. Even if it’s just a cameo.
It’s Not Over… Yet
They’ve shot the Fast franchise in just about every country and continent in the world (except Africa or its countries). They even went to space. They’ve brought down tanks, busses, jets, planes, submarines and everything else you can think of. What could they possibly do to surprise audiences in the next film?
With Fast Forever supposed to be the final instalment, it’s highly unlikely that Vin Diesel would take to the crazy Jurassic World idea. However, as I said before, you can never say never when it comes to this blockbuster franchise. And considering that Jurassic World has also become a little over-the-top, this wouldn’t be such a stretch.
I’d pay good money to see Dom Toretto ride a T-Rex!
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