The end of the road is approaching for Dominic Toretto and his family after more than two decades of street races, heists and saving the world. We’ve known for a few years now that there are only two movies left in the main Fast & Furious film series, and the penultimate entry, the highly anticipated Fast X, comes out in a month. But before the arrival of that 2023 new movie release, it’s been revealed that a key talent from this installment will be back for Fast & Furious 11: director Louis Leterrier.
After being brought in to succeed Justin Lin as Fast X’s director after Lin exited the production just a week into principal photography, Leterrier will resume his filming duties for Fast & Furious 11, which will bring The Fast Saga to a close and is described as a “companion film” to its predecessor. Evidently he got along with Vin Diesel and the rest of the cast and crew splendidly, because Universal Pictures president Peter Cramer had the following to say to Variety about the filmmaker returning for one last ride in this world:
Louis joined the ‘Fast & Furious’ team seamlessly, with an innate understanding of the franchise that is stronger than ever after two decades. Under his direction, ‘Fast X’ is a high intensity thriller with all the spectacular action, emotion, and twists that the fans have come to expect – and then some. We are thrilled that he will continue to work his magic in the director’s chair.
Prior to joining the Fast & Furious franchise, Louis Leterrier’s notable film credits included Transporter 2, The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans and Now You See Me, and he also helmed (and executive produced) all 10 episodes of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, which can be viewed with a Netflix subscription. He had to “change everything” so that he could come aboard Fast X, but it resulted in “the thrill of a lifetime.” And he didn’t just do directing work on the movie; he ended up rewriting the Fast X script overnight after read the prior draft four times. Leterrier has also kindly clarified that the movie is pronounced as ‘Fast Ten,’ i.e. the X is Roman numeral-style.
The penultimate Fast & Furious movie will see Dom and the gang going up against Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes, the son of Fast Five’s main villain Hernan Reyes. As Leterrier explained after Momoa’s character was finally identified, he decided to connect Dante back to Fast Five in order to demonstrate that there’s a “price to Doom’s life choices,” adding that the franchise’s fifth entry was the last one “that truly dealt with human stakes.” Other newcomers who’ve been added to Fast X’s cast include Brie Larson as Tess, the daughter or Mr. Nobody; Rita Moreno as Abuelita, Dom, Mia and Jakob Toretto’s grandmother; Alan Ritchson as Agent Aides, who’s now leading the government agency Nobody previously supervised; and Daniela Melchior as Isabel, a Brazilian street racer who has a history with Dom. It’s unclear how many of those individuals will be back for Fast & Furious 11.
Since we don’t what will go down in Fast X, it’s hard to say what Louis Leterrier has in store for Fast & Furious 11, but with these movies being so closely tied together, it makes sense that he’ll be sitting back in the director’s chair for this last outing. Fast X hits theaters on May 19, and once it’s announced when the follow-up is dated, we’ll let you know.
