The Fast & Furious Saga shines a light on its OG family members in new featurette ahead of 'F9'

Universal's Fast Saga has always been about one word: "family." In a new featurette meant to hype up the release of F9 late next month, the studio takes us back to the very beginning in 2001 when Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) first joined forces with the likes of Brian O'Conner (the late Paul Walker), Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), and his sister, Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster).

Over the years, that iconic pit crew has grown to include Han Lue (Sung Kang), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Tej Parker (Ludacris), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot), Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), and more.

"It's really brought me back to the fact that this is so rare, like to be in Hollywood, and a lot of times you're making these films and it feels very alone, but we're not alone," F9 director and co-writer Justin Lin told Entertainment Weekly last month. "For me, it's now been 15 years with this family. And when we started off we were all just single and trying to make it, and then we started our own families, and then our kids started growing up together. And so to see that kind of acknowledgment is very special."

Watch the featurette — titled "The Originals" — below:

"The things that happen in this film are just like, 'Ok, wait a minute. This is a game-changer for sure,'" Rodriguez says in the video above.

As we now know, the ninth entry will continue to push the series' death-defying limits with a rocket car and something called a magnet plane. "Fast fans realized early on that we were willing to defy expectations with every single chapter," Diesel adds. "Even with that, you have no idea. I feel so excited for the world to see it — the ninth chapter."

F9 drives into theaters everywhere Friday, June 25.