Just in time for its 25th anniversary, the Fast and the Furious franchise is about to ride onto TV in various Peacock series!
There are some movie franchises that defy explanation as to their success. The Fast & The Furious has to be one of them. What started in 2001 as a one-off, low-budget action-crime film has since grown into a massive money-making saga. Now, it looks like it’s set for TV.
At the NBCUniversal upfronts on May 11, Vin Diesel, the heart of the Fast & the Furious saga as Dominic Toretto, took the stage to announce that Peacock is working on a TV series based on the Fast & the Furious movies. While one is confirmed, Diesel claimed that there were three more in development.
"Peacock is launching four shows in the Fast and the Furious universe. We’re precious about these movies, but for the last decade, we have realized fans want more and to expand legacy characters and their stories. I had to wait until it was right. It became right when Donna Langley started to oversee it all because that’s when I knew the integrity of the characters, the international appeal, what makes us feel like family, would be protected in the TV space.”
For the confirmed series, the pilot will be written by Mike Daniels with Diesel and Sam Vincent as executive producers. There’s no word yet on what the plot involves, but it’s a sure bet that car chases, criminals vs. cops, and some insane action are in the cards.
What will the Fast & the Furious shows be about?
2001’s The Fast and the Furious looked like a forgettable summer action piece. Paul Walker played Brian O’Connor, an LAPD cop who goes undercover in the racing scene to catch smuggler and thief Dominic. Also starring were Jordanna Brewster as Dom’s sister and Brian’s love interest, Mia, and Michelle Rodriguez as Dom’s love, Letty.
Made for $38 million, the film became a surprise smash with over $200 million at the box office. Diesel passed on the sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious and had only a cameo in the third film, Tokyo Drift. However, 2009’s Fast & Furious reunited the cast, and revived the franchise with Fast Five introducing Dwayne Johnson as frenemy Hobbs.
The films have continued, including the 2022 spin-off Hobbs & Shaw teaming up Johnson with Jason Statham's semi-reformed crook. The franchise has endured the tragic death of Walker in a car accident in 2013 (CGI completed his part in Furious 7), with additions to the cast including Charlize Theron as villain Cipher and John Cena as Dom’s half-brother Jakob.
The movies have evolved from just street crime to international epics with set pieces that put Mission: Impossible to shame. Heck, they even had a car going into space in F9! 2023’s Fast X ended with a big cliffhanger, only for the film’s box office underperformance and various issues to leave that hanging. Hopefully, it’ll finally be resolved in Fast Forever, set to release in 2028.
For what these shows can be about, there have been various ideas tossed around for Fast & the Furious spinoff films. That included an all-female crew, which could work on a TV series. There’s also the idea of international takes set in the same world, using countries like Mexico or across Europe. While it’s hard to see some stars like Johnson, Rodriguez, or others heading to TV, there’s potential in a show about anything from Hobbs on his adventures to Rodriguez’s Letty in the years she had amnesia. We could even get a prequel showing how Dom’s father influenced his turn to crime.
An obvious issue is the budget, as there’s no way a Peacock show could match the epic stunts of the movies. Yet that can work, grounding the tale for more of a fun caper that uses cars. We’ll see if this happens for sure, but the idea of the Fast & the Furious franchise roaring over Peacock shows that after a quarter of a century, this franchise has plenty of gas left in the tank.
The Fast & Furious movies streaming on Prime Video.
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