Fast & Furious is all about found family, and Dom Toretto found one of his treasured family members in a completely different movie. The snack-loving street racer Han Lue — played by Sun Kang — actually made his first appearance in the 2002 indie film Better Luck Tomorrow, co-written and directed by Justin Lin. When Lin took over the Fast & Furious franchise, he put Han in the movie as an Easter egg. However, the character was so popular that he returned several more times, and by now he seems practically superhuman with all that he’s survived.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Here’s a look back at the odd road Han had to drift down to get into Fast X.
The Fast and the Furious wasn’t even out when Lin was co-writing Better Luck Tomorrow with Ernesto Foronda and Fabian Marquez. The movie is a crime drama about high schoolers in California and a commentary on the cognitive dissonance of youth culture in that time. Lin said he specifically wanted to explore the adoption of “an urban-gangsta-mentality” in “suburbia,” particularly among Asian-American boys.
The movie centers around childhood friends Ben (Parry Shen) and Virgil (Jason Tobin), who are straight-A students from a wealthy suburb with Ivy League aspirations. At the same time, they commit petty crimes like theft and vandalism for the thrill, as they are conflicted about their pre-determined lives. They often work with Virgil’s older cousin Han, and during the movie their crimes escalate in direct relation to the success or failure in their more conventional goals — for example, when Ben does not make the starting lineup on the basketball team, he steals the answers to a test and sells them off to other students.
[RELATED – 7 Fast & Furious Action Scenes That Defy Logic & Physics]
Han acts as a foil to these two characters, and implicitly calls their bluff on the flirtations with crime. No matter how jaded or disenfranchised Ben seems to get by comparing himself to others, he can’t see himself as a person like Han, either. In the end, they all take things too far, and are scarred by the experience. This bleak ending leads nicely into Han’s first chronological appearance in Fast & Furious.
Better Luck Tomorrow is worth a watch in its own right – and for Fast & Furious fans, it’s a must-see. Interestingly, Kang actually wanted the role of Ben during the casting process, never knowing that Han would become such a prolific role in his career. Meanwhile, Tobin went on to play Earl, a completely different character in the Fast & Furious continuity who was introduced in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
Han in Fast & Furious
Han’s story can be a little difficult to track from there, so let’s summarize it chronologically. Lin carried Han over into the franchise starting in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, but it was later decided that the spinoff film’s story takes place between Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7.
Han’s introduction into the saga actually comes in the short film Los Bandoleros, where he meets Dom Toretto in Mexico and strikes up a friendship. The short depicts Dom and Han racing and pulling off a heist together. It looks like they worked together like this for a few years before their reputations became too great, and Dom calls it all off for Letty’s safety. However, when Dom and Brian get a shot at a life-changing score in Fast Five, Han is one of the first allies they call to join the crew.
In the sixth movie, Han comes out of retirement along with the rest of the crew to help Dom track down Letty. It’s implied that Han took his share from the heist to Tokyo and opened his own garage. This is around the point of the timeline where Tokyo Drift happens, and the post-credit scene from Fast & Furious 6 revisits Han’s death from the climax of Tokyo Drift, revealing (at least for awhile) that Han was actually killed by mercenary Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), the villain of Furious 7.
From there, the timeline straightens out a bit: Han returns in F9, revealing that he had actually faked his death to go underground and work with the shady government organization that the rest of the F&F crew now work for, as well. Han returns in Fast X, which ends on a cliffhanger for the storyline featuring him, Roman, Tej, and Ramsey. They are all expected to return in the upcoming finale of the saga, though we don’t know what the future holds for them.
Han’s migration from an indie drama into one of the biggest blockbuster franchises ever made is a testament to the power of flexibility and experimentation in Hollywood. He remains one of the most beloved characters in this series even as it becomes bigger and more outlandish. Fans who want to explore Han’s humble origins will have to rent or purchase Better Luck Tomorrow on PVOD stores like Prime Video, Apple TV, or Fandango at Home. It is also available on Blu-ray and DVD.
Other Fast & Furious movies can be streamed on Peacock.
