The Fast and Furious family feud lives on, and it may have a big impact on the hugely successful action film series. Dwayne Johnson recently chatted with Rolling Stone about his future in the franchise and he admitted that he’s “not quite sure” if he will return for the Fate of the Furious follow-up, Fast and Furious 9.
As Rolling Stone pointed out, Johnson showed a big sign of discontent in 2016 when he called out some of his male co-stars for not “[conducting] themselves as stand-up men and true professionals.” He also slammed those who were “too chickenshit to do anything about it,” describing them as “candy asses.” Naturally, speculation ensued, and fans soon noted that there were likely problems between Johnson and producer Vin Diesel, in particular, as the two stars were not in any scenes together.
Johnson recently delved into the topic with Rolling Stone, saying that he and Diesel had “a few discussions, including an important face-to-face in [Johnson’s] trailer.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like they found much, if any, common ground.
“What I came to realize is that we have a fundamental difference in philosophies on how we approach moviemaking and collaborating,” Johnson told the magazine. “It took me some time, but I’m grateful for that clarity. Whether we work together again or not.”
The WWE star-turned-actor clarified that he’s “not quite sure” whether or not he will appear in Fast and Furious 9. Right now, he says his focus is on the spinoff and making it “as good as it can be.” The film, Hobbs and Shaw, centers on his character, Luke Hobbs, alongside Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw.
Interestingly enough, the spinoff is another point of contention in the Fast and Furious family. Hobbs and Shaw was given a release date of July 26, 2019, which pushed back Fast and Furious 9 to 2020. That move upset Tyrese Gibson, who plays Roman Pearce; he wrote an impassioned Instagram post on October 4 claiming that the franchise has become about Johnson ever since his production company, Seven Bucks, got involved. The actor even threatened to exit the series via a November 1 Instagram post.
None of this fighting seems likely to be good for the franchise in the long run. In the end, the studio, actors, and fans could all lose out.
