John Cena Reveals Why He's Excited to Be Part of Fast & Furious Franchise

Peacemaker star John Cena joined the Fast & Furious franchise with its ninth installment, F9. Cena plays Jakob Toretto, younger brother to Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto. The siblings have a rocky relationship as F9 played out, but the two ultimately found some middle ground and worked together to help save the world. Ahead of the announcement that Peacemaker has been renewed for a second season by HBO Max, Cena revealed why he's excited to be a part of the Fast & Furious world, admitting that he has loved the franchise ever since its early beginnings. 

"Being able to be invited into the Fast franchise, it was awesome," Cena told GQ in a video interview. "I grew up on these movies. I love car culture. I love the fact that nobody saw this coming, and it took the world by storm. I love how the franchise has evolved into this superhero-without-cape-spy movie, underground crime scene, but good guy, big caper, fight evil save the world type of stuff."

Cena added how Fast & Furious is one of the few franchises to really listen to its audience, even when they joke. He gave the example of how fans have joked that the stunts have gotten so outrageous, that the only thing left for them to do is to head to space. Of course, this literally happened in F9 when director Justin Lin sent Tej and Roman to space in a Pontiac Fiero.

The former WWE star also gave praise to the F9 cast and crew, who have become something like a family after working together for so many years. "You walk on set, these people have been doing movies together for 20 years," he said. "I've never seen anything like that, except the WWE locker room, but had a great time. This is a legacy project for these people. There are very few franchises that get to the ninth installment and can still say they're kicking ass. These are people that made me better performers."

Vin Diesel confirmed Fast & Furious 10 began filming earlier this month. It's unknown if John Cena will reprise his role as Jakob in the next movie, though he has high hopes that his character will make a return. "I'll change my peace sign to crossing my fingers. I can tell you this: You probably won't see me in Fast 10 dressed like [Peacemaker]," Cena told Good Morning America when asked about returning to the blockbuster series. "I really hope you see me in Fast 10. I know they're gearing up for production, and I would love nothing more than to return to the franchise. I'm a big fan myself." 

After being delayed, Fast & Furious 10 will now drop on May 19, 2023. Let us know your thoughts on John Cena's love for the franchise in the comments!