The Fast and the Furious franchise is still going strong, 17 years after the release of its first action-packed film, and it's now hitting the gas and zooming ahead into the world of streaming with a new project. Netflix has joined forces with Dreamworks Animation to develop the first TV series based on the beloved fast-car franchise. The currently untitled Fast & Furious animated series will bring all of the films' adrenaline-pumping action to the small screen, and some of the established storyline will show up as well.
Fast & Furious' animated series will shift away from the adventures of the film that center directly on Vin Diesel's Dom Torreto, and will instead tell the story of Dom's teenage cousin Tony Torretto. (You know it would be about family, right? Family.) As luck would have it, Tony and his friends are also invested in the world of nefarious underworld racing outfits, and they will aid a government agency attempting to infiltrate an evil organization and defeat its leaders. Failure to do so will result in the organization's world domination, which would obviously be a bad deal for everyone.
Netflix has already released an image for the upcoming animated series, and it looks like we'll see a lot of souped-up speed machines burning rubber in the animated series, even if the cars won't be on the ground the whole time.
Lest anyone thinks this is a mindless adaptation, the Fast & Furious animated series will have some big names behind the scenes. Fast & Furious franchise producers Neal Mortiz and Chris Morgan are on board, and it wouldn't be a real family party if Vin Diesel wasn't also involved as an executive producer. And the two big names in Dreamworks Animation's driver's seat are Dreamworks Voltron Legendary Defender lead writer Tim Hedrick and Bret Haaland, who is also the executive producer for All Hail King Julien. They'll be executive producing along with the others.
Currently, neither Vin Diesel nor Dom are set to actually be featured in the series, but given that it's is based on Dom's cousin, and the fact that the actor also dabbles in some pretty noteworthy voice acting on the big screen, it wouldn't be all that surprising if Dom did make at least one appearance in the animated spinoff.
The idea to make a Fast & Furious animated series sounds like a business-savvy decision, considering the films have combined to gross more than $5 billion at the box office. With Netflix's large audience and broad customer base around the world, this new series has the potential to be another mega-hit for both the platform and Dreamworks Animation. The deal between Universal and Netflix also included a first-look deal for the studio to perhaps develop series for its other film properties, so if this show takes off, expect more in the future.
The animated adventure based on the Fast & Furious franchise does not have a date set for when it will arrive on Netflix. For a list of shows that do have premiere dates for the platform, visit our Netflix premiere guide. Those looking to see what's coming up on television in general over the coming months can find out with our midseason and summer premiere guides.
