<em>Fast & Furious 11</em> is still in development, and the film’s stars continue to provide updates and teasers about what’s coming in the so-called final installment of the long-running action franchise. While it’s great to see that progress is being made for the final movie in the Fast & Furious saga, the franchise’s long-term plan remains unclear.

There are several Fast & Furious projects that have been announced over the past few years, ranging from an all-female reboot to multiple character-based spinoffs that clearly aim to keep the franchise alive after the conclusion of the main series. However, this seems increasingly unlikely as the focus on Fast 11 appears to detract from this overarching plan.

Hobbs & Shaw 2 Should Be A Priority For Fast & Furious

Unfortunately, the lack of updates surrounding any of the five Fast & Furious projects reportedly in development makes it difficult to envision that they’ll progress past the pre-production stage. The franchise has been somewhat stagnant in recent months, with the crew’s full attention directed towards Fast 11, ensuring this final installment in the main saga is as rewarding and compelling as possible.

This streamlined focus on Fast 11 is a good short-term plan, but if Fast & Furious wants to continue into the future, it needs to establish a clear directive for the spinoffs, sequels, and prequels that are coming next. While other billion-dollar franchises like Star Wars and the MCU have transparent multi-year plans in place, Fast & Furious‘ timeline feels disjointed.

Thankfully, there’s one project in Fast & Furious‘ upcoming slate that could offer it a crucial lifeline in the years to come: Hobbs & Shaw 2. Although the original spinoff wasn’t well-received among critics, it was an enormous box office success that demonstrated significant engagement for these iconic Fast & Furious supporting characters.

Judging by Vin Diesel’s recent comments about Fast 11, it seems like this will be his final appearance as Dom Toretto. If that’s true, the franchise needs another anchor character (or two) to keep fans returning. Hobbs and Shaw are ideal candidates, as they’ve already shown their capability to lead a movie independently.

There will also be significant deaths in Fast 11, but it’s unlikely that Hobbs and Shaw will be among them. It’s more probable that Dom’s close friends, including Han, Letty, or Mia, will be the ones to lose their lives in this final movie, allowing Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham’s characters to carry on.

Additionally, Johnson and Statham are among the few recurring characters in the Fast & Furious series who can rival Diesel as a box office draw. While it would be enjoyable to see characters like Han, Gisele, and even Mr. Nobody lead their own projects in the future, it’s hard to imagine these actors would sell tickets as effectively as Johnson and Statham can.

Fast & Furious Needs To Reconsider Its Future After Fast X: Part 2

Ultimately, Fast & Furious‘ biggest problem going into this final movie is that none of its upcoming sequels and spinoffs inspire much confidence or excitement. The franchise desperately needs to move in a fresh direction following the poor critical reception of recent installments, but there’s nothing on the upcoming slate indicating change.

The reported all-female Fast & Furious spinoff sounds intriguing on the surface, but many other franchises have shown that these kinds of soft reboots or legacy sequels don’t always perform well at the box office. Examples include Ocean’s Eight and Ghostbusters (2016), with no evidence suggesting that Fast & Furious could achieve better results.

The Hobbs solo movie could definitely be interesting given how successful Johnson’s previous films have been over the past decade, but it ultimately feels like a downgrade from Hobbs & Shaw. The reason this spinoff worked is largely due to the chemistry between these two actors, and a Hobbs movie without that dynamic wouldn’t feel right.

This leaves only Hobbs & Shaw 2, which has enough potential to keep audiences returning for more action from the franchise. In fact, it seems like the franchise has created a significant obstacle for itself by marketing Fast X: Part 2 as the “final” movie when several spinoffs are currently in production. This could further confuse audiences and alienate some long-time fans.

A very specific path must be taken by Fast & Furious to conclude properly, which includes positioning Johnson and Statham as new faces of the series once the main saga ends. The upcoming release ofHobbs & Shaw 2 feels like a natural progression for this long-running action franchise, being the only spin-off currently in production that effectively connects this “new” era with the classic one audiences fell in love with.