The Rock Shares New Look at ‘Fast & Furious’ Spinoff ‘Hobbs & Shaw’

If you are a lover of The Fast and the Furious franchise, you’re going to enjoy this new teaser photo from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who is starring in the upcoming spin-off film, Hobbs and Shaw.

Following Luke Hobbs (Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), this new film will be focusing on an alliance between the two characters, who have had a rocky history in the franchise.

“Do not go gentle. Long hours of action & fight sequences for HOBBS & SHAW – our Fast & Furious spin-off film,” writes Johnson, “Body, bones and knuckles hurting. Worth a lil’ pain – we’re making something pretty cool for you guys.”

The action in this franchise is pretty intense, especially since it came back with a vengeance with the fourth installment, Fast & Furious, back in 2009. If someone as ripped as The Rock is feeling the burn while filming, our action-related expectations are going to skyrocket.

Johnson’s character, Hobbs, first appeared in Fast Five as a Diplomatic Security Service agent who is tasked with hunting down Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker). Spoiler Alert: Hobbs eventually learns that our main protagonists are the good guys and joins their crew for the remainder of the franchise.

Statham’s character, Shaw, enters the films as a pretty dastardly villain. Spoiler Alert #2: he murders Han Lue (Sung Kang), one of the franchise’s most beloved characters. We first see Shaw in the mid-credits scene for Fast & Furious 6, which reveals how Han really died. (In case you’re not a Fast & Furious aficionado, Han dies during The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift but comes back for 4-6, which all take place before the events of the third film).

Despite Shaw’s behavior, he makes amends and joins Toretto’s crew for The Fate of the Furious, in which he engages in one of the most ridiculous/best/entertaining rescue scenes in any movie ever. Do yourself a favor and watch it here.

In addition to Johnson and Statham, the spin-off film is set to star Vanessa Kirby, Eiza González, Idris Elba, and Eddie Marsan. The film is being directed by David Leitch, who also helmed Deadpool 2 and Atomic Blonde.

Hobbs and Shaw is set to hit theaters on July 26, 2019.