The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift Originally Had Vin Diesel As Its Lead

The Fast and Furious franchise is a behemoth for Universal these days, but there was a time that it seemed the series was over prematurely, and that fork in the road was Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift.

The film didn’t perform at the box office like the others for a number of reasons, but when writer Chris Morgan hopped on board to deliver his draft of the script, it actually included Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto at the wheel (via Uproxx). “There was an open writing call for the third film. I think originally I came in and pitched. Essentially it was Tokyo Drift, but it was with Vin, and his character kind of had to go out and learn drifting. And there was a murder he had to solve.”

With the previous stars gone, the studio wanted to take it in a new direction. It’s developed a cult-like status since its release but is considered one of the weaker films in the franchise from a box office standpoint. “And they said, ‘Nah, can’t do that. We have to do high school.’ And so the movie became what the movie was. I was really proud of it. And the audience, they came to see it. A lot of people liked it. It kind of did the worst of all the films.”

What ultimately saved the franchise though was being able to bring in Diesel after all, just not in the way Morgan originally planned. “It is so funny,” says Morgan. “It could have been the death throes, and then thankfully, the thing that kind of saved us was that we got Vin at the very end of the movie to come in and kind of hint where we’re going to go in the future.”

The film could have been a truly different movie with Diesel attached, but in the end, it ended up working out for the better, giving fans a new character to latch onto and also laying the foundation for one of the series’ premiere villains in Deckard Shaw.

Next up for the series is Fate of the Furious, and you can view the official synopsis below.

From the shores of Cuba and the streets of New York City to the icy plains off the arctic Barents Sea, our elite force will crisscross the globe to stop an anarchist from unleashing chaos on the world’s stage…and to bring home the man who made them a family.

For The Fate of the Furious, Vin Diesel is joined by a returning all-star cast that includes Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky and Kurt Russell. In addition to Theron, the series welcomes newcomers Scott Eastwood and Oscar winner Helen Mirren. The film is directed by F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton) and produced by returning producers Neal H. Moritz, Michael Fottrell, and Diesel.

The Fate of the Furious opens in theaters April 14, 2017.

MORE FATE OF THE FURIOUS: Writer Discusses Plans For Fast 9 / Fate May Eclipse Franchise’s Previous Box Office Records / Vin Diesel Has Changed A Lot Over The Years