The Fast Family feud is officially over. After making a cameo in the Fast X mid-credits scene, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson confirmed Thursday that he’s returning to the Fast and the Furious franchise as Luke Hobbs. However, Hobbs’ next chapter won’t be a sequel to the Fast Saga‘s first spin-off, 2019’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw — but a standalone film that will bridge the events of Fast X and 2025’s Fast X: Part II. Johnson is producing the new Hobbs spin-off with his Seven Bucks Productions partners Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia, Vin Diesel and Samantha Vincent’s One Race Films, and longtime franchise writer Chris Morgan.
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“Luke Hobbs will be returning to the Fast & Furious franchise.Your reactions around the world to Hobbs’ return in Fast X have blown us away,” Johnson tweeted, describing the untitled Hobbs film as “a fresh, new chapter” that serves as “set up for Fast X: Part II.”
Johnson’s “legendary lawman” is Diplomatic Security Service Agent Luke Hobbs, who pursued a fugitive Dominic Toretto (Diesel) in 2011’s Fast Five — only to join forces with Toretto’s street-racing crew to bring down drug lord Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) in Rio. In Fast X, Hernan’s son Dante (Jason Momoa) targets Toretto’s family for his family’s downfall, and makes a phone call to threaten the man who killed his father: Hobbs.
Johnson reprised the role in 2013’s Fast & Furious 6, 2015’s Furious 7, and 2017’s The Fate of the Furious. But after teaming with mercenary Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) in the 2019 spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, Johnson sat out 2021’s F9 amid a public feud with franchise star and producer Diesel.
The Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson Feud, Explained
In 2016, Johnson published a social media post targeting his male co-stars during his final week of filming on The Fate of the Furious.
“My female co-stars are always amazing and I love ’em. My male co-stars however are a different story,” Johnson wrote on Facebook of a cast that included co-stars Diesel, Statham, and series regulars Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and Tyrese Gibson. “Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don’t. The ones that don’t are too chicken shit to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses.”
“When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I’m not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling — you’re right,” the post continued. A day later, Johnson walked back those comments in an Instagram post praising his Fast family members.
“You guys reading this know how much I believe in the idea of TEAM EFFORT. That means respecting every person, their time and their value when they step on to my set or partner with our production company,” Johnson wrote. “And like with any team – that’s a family – there’s gonna be conflict. Family is gonna have differences of opinion and fundamental core beliefs. To me, conflict can be a good thing, when its followed by great resolution. I was raised on healthy conflict and welcome it. And like any family, we get better from it. At the end of the day me and #F8 co-stars all agree on the most important thing: Delivering an incredible movie to the world.”
Johnson confirmed in a 2018 Rolling Stone interview that his beef was with Diesel, and that they “were not in any scenes together” on the set of F8. “Vin and I had a few discussions, including an important face-to-face in my trailer,” Johnson said. “And what I came to realize is that we have a fundamental difference in philosophies on how we approach moviemaking and collaborating. It took me some time, but I’m grateful for that clarity. Whether we work together again or not.”
Diesel addressed the headline-making feud while promoting F9, claiming in an interview with Men’s Health that the behind-the-scenes drama was spurred by the on-screen machismo displayed by Toretto and Hobbs.
“As a producer to say, ‘Okay, we’re going to take Dwayne Johnson, who’sassociated with wrestling, and we’re going to force this cinematicworld, audience members, to regard his character as someone that theydon’t know’—Hobbs hits you like a ton of bricks. That’s something thatI’m proud of, that aesthetic. That took a lot of work,” Diesel explained. “We had to getthere and sometimes, at that time, I could give a lot of tough love. NotFelliniesque, but I would do anything I’d have to do in order to getperformances in anything I’m producing.”
Johnson laughed off Diesel’s comments, telling The Hollywood Reporter in 2021 that he wouldn’t be getting back behind the wheel for another Fast & Furious movie. “I wish them well on Fast 9,” he said at the time. “And I wish them the best of luck on Fast 10 and Fast 11 and the rest of the Fast & Furious movies they do that will be without me.”
But according to Johnson, he buried the hatchet with Diesel last summer and “put all the past behind us.”
“Despite us having our differences, me and Vin, we’ve been like brothers for years,” he said in a video posted on social media Thursday. “You just think about the future, you just think about plans that are much bigger than ourselves. Those bigger plans are the North Star.”
That North Star points to a new chapter of Fast & Furious as the long-running franchise speeds toward the finish line. In April, studio Universal Pictures slated Fast & Furious 11 for 2025, but days later, Diesel revealed Fast X (pronounced “Fast Ten”) wasn’t just the first half of a two-parter — but the first chapter of a finale trilogy. Johnson’s Hobbs movie is the middle chapter, taking place between this summer’s Fast X and the upcoming Fast X: Part II. The end of the road is just beginning.
