Fast X Star Alan Ritchson Reveals Alternate Twist for Film's Villains
The cast of the Fast & Furious franchise has grown exponentially over the years, with Fast X representing the most star-studded ensemble of the series to-date. Jason Momoa and Brie Larson grabbed all the headlines for this movie's newcomers, though it also included the likes of Reacher star Alan Ritchson, The Suicide Squad breakout Daniela Melchior, and Oscar-winner Rita Moreno. For his part, Ritchson plays a character named Aimes, the new head of The Agency, who is at the center of an important twist late in the film. As it turns out, there were actually multiple versions of that twist during production. WARNING: This article contains MAJOR Fast X spoilers...
It's revealed late in the film that Ritchson's Aimes has actually been working with Momoa's Dante the entire time. Aimes was with Dante the day of the safe heist in Fast Five, and the two have been partners ever since. During a recent interview with EW about Fast X, Ritchson revealed that there was an alternate version of the story where Dante and Aimes were actually brothers, but that version was left on the cutting room floor.
"I don't know if this is divulging too much, but we shot a couple different stories. One was that Jason Momoa's character and Aimes were blood brothers," Ritchson explained. "They were actually related, and one of the reasons why they were unified was because of their genetic link. There is a version in the editing room of that film, but at the end of the day it was decided that the other version which is what's in the film now – we learn at the end of the movie that really surprising twist that there was an alliance between them the whole time making him maybe the bad guy – that's what we're left with. I wasn't really sure which version of that was going to live, but I did know that there was a lot of duplicity in the character and that he was ultimately a bad guy, at least for now. We'll see what the future holds."
According to Ritchson, both takes on the bond between Aimes and Dante were shot, so director Louis Leterrier and the creative team had the freedom to choose which one worked better for the final product. Ultimately, they went with the simpler tale of the two being business partners.
Fast X is now playing in theaters.