Vin Diesel Seems to Confirm Fast 12 Is Really Happening, Teases More Spinoffs

It sounds like a 12th Fast & Furious movie really is happening.

Speaking with Variety at Charlize Theron's Africa Outreach Project block party in Los Angeles over the weekend, Fast X star and producer Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto) explained the rationale behind the idea of a swan song trilogy, citing the giant ensemble of characters as a main factor. "Look at how many characters and great talent there is in the movie. There was no way I could pull that off, unless I had everyone on [the screen] for five seconds. But these characters are appealing and we need to see more of them."

Diesel originally teased the plan to extend the finale beyond two blockbusters at the Fast X world premiere in Rome almost two weeks ago, effectively shocking the fans and, as it turns out, his fellow cast members. "To be quite honest, he’s like that," Michelle Rodriguez (Letty Ortiz) said of her loquacious co-star. "He always does this kind of stuff. But yeah, we found out on tour."

RELATED: Vin Diesel On Those Surprise Cameos in Fast X: "Both of Them Clearly Make People Happy"

However, it should be noted that Universal Pictures has yet to officially confirm Fast 12. At the time of this writing, the Fast Saga is slated to conclude after its 11th chapter — helmed by the returning Louis Leterrier and written by Christina Hodson (The Flash) and Oren Uziel (The Cloverfield Paradox). With Hollywood currently in the middle of a writers strike (the first one since 2007), a production start date remains uncertain, which may require the studio to rethink Fast 11's 2025 release window.

"You’ve got a writers strike and then God knows who else is gonna strike afterwards," Rodriguez added. "I don’t know, I think that this year’s gonna be a little iffy. I think at the moment what we’re gonna do is just take it all in and hope we do well."

Vin Diesel as Dom in Fast X (2023). Photo: Peter Mountain / Universal Pictures

As Diesel told The Hollywood Reporter, though, Fast 11 is still very much in the conceptual "pruning" phase as he and Leterrier hash out the details of how to best resolve the dangling story threads left by the current movie. 

“There’s a different deal," the actor/producer elaborated to Variety. "When you see this movie, you know we have to deliver the conclusion because we’ve never — in Universal history — had a cliffhanger like we had in this movie."

“It’s kind of scary because at the end of it, we’re doing something pretty adventurous, leaving people hanging like that," echoed Rodriguez.

But even when the main story does reach the eventual finish line, don't expect Fast & Furious to shut its engines off for good. More spinoffs in the vein of 2019's Hobbs and Shaw are on the way, including a female-led movie project Diesel's been developing since 2017.

"The sooner I deliver the finale, the sooner I can launch all the spinoffs,” he promised.

While no details are available at this time, Rodriguez did hint at a new batch of younger heroes getting behind the wheel of the long-running series. Perhaps Little Brian teaming up with his O'Conner cousins? "You pass the baton on. You take the backseat. You go passenger side," she said. "When it comes to the next generation, you have to. It’s the only way to let them define the future."

Nevertheless, she's totally open to the idea of joining the all-female offshoot. "If they gave us a spinoff, that’d be great. Give us a little platform to play," the actress concluded. "I’d adore it because what’s beautiful about the Fast franchise is the kind of sh-t we get away with, you can’t get away with in any other franchise in Hollywood. Unless I go to Bollywood or something like that, I don’t think I could get away with it. So it’s the perfect platform to play if you want to do a female spinoff, but I just think [we need to finish] what we’ve got. We’ve gotta say goodbye in a powerful way and I think that’s what it’s really all about right now.”

Fast X is now playing in theaters everywhere. The film opened at the top of the box office this past weekend with a global haul of $319 million (the third-best worldwide debut of the entire franchise). Click here to pick up tickets for yourself and the whole family!

Relive a small portion of the Fast Saga with Furious 7 — now streaming now on Peacock. If you want to catch up on the full story, however, click right here for our nifty guide on where to stream the first nine installments (plus Hobbs & Shaw).