This weekend a surprising rumor started to make the rounds about the Fast & Furious franchise with Page Six reporting that none other than Ben Stiller could be showing up in the new movie in the series, F9. The outlet reported that the size of Stiller’s role was unclear and that he would begin shooting scenes soon, the first catch being that production wrapped on the film back in November, and the second catch being Stiller himself has debunked the rumor. The Emmy award winning director and actor took to Twitter to address the story with a funny joke about the franchise.
“Reports of my Fast and Furiosness are greatly exaggerated,” Stiller wrote. “Meaning not at all true, sadly. Though I wish them well with the franchise. Fingers crossed it takes off.”
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Stiller concluded his tweet with the hashtags #FastAndFurious and #PageSixIsAmazing, a dig at the source of the rumor. Fans responded to Stiller’s denial with disappointment, hoping that he would become part of the series eventually.
Reports of my Fast and Furiosness are greatly exaggerated. Meaning not at all true, sadly. Though I wish them well with the franchise. Fingers crossed it takes off. #FastAndFurious #PageSixIsAmazing
— Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) March 2, 2020
“A little disappointed now. #Family,” @mk_plusultra said
“C’mon Ben, we wanna see you do some crazy stunts,” @TurkeyPaste wrote.
“that would be amazing,” @Mirakenic added.
Though Stiller will not seemingly appear in the film, Fast & Furious 9 will see the franchise debut of John Cena, who will be playing the antagonist of the film and was revealed to be the brother of Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto. The film will also see the return of a number of characters from the franchise’s two decade history, including the unlikely resurrection of Sung Kang’s Han
“You’ll find out, but Han is a very special character for me,” Director Justin Lin told MTV. “He’s been kind of a special character throughout, and when I left in [Fast & Furious 6], we kind of left together. One of the reasons for me to come back was to bring him back. I was at a Q&A for a film and someone in the audience said they were confused about what happened. It really kind of got in my head and inspired me that if we’re gonna continue, we should have justice for Han, for sure.”
Fast & Furious: F9 is scheduled to premiere in theaters on May 22.
