Who ever thought from its modest beginnings that the “Fast & Furious” franchise would ever reach the point where they have villains to face off against in each entry, with each requiring them to jet off to a variety of new and exotic locations. It was Rio for “Fast Five,” and in the most recent entry, “Furious 6,” the crew spent the majority of their time in London and Spain. Dominic Toretto’s practically James Bond by this point, right?
Wrong, but he is racking up a similar amount of air miles, and that doesn’t look set to stop even with director Justin Lin moving on to pastures new. If all goes to plan we could have a seventh entry in theatres as early as next year, in which Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and co would be facing off against a new villain introduced in a Furious 6 mid-credits sting. And no, before you ask, it’s not Thanos. In an interview with Digital Spy to promote the new movie, Vin Diesel has let slip that the ‘family’ will be encountering this new foe in Tokyo and the Middle East in that seventh movie.
“We have a stint in Tokyo and there is the Middle East next, that could be interesting,” said Diesel, and that makes a lot of sense.
Mild spoilers to follow:
As fans of the franchise will know, “The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift,” the third entry in the franchise, actually takes place after the events of films 4, 5 and 6, which is how Sung Kang’s character of Han dies in that third movie but is still present and correct in Lin’s subsequent three movies. “Fast & Furious 7” would be the first film to take place after Tokyo Drift, and seeing as we know Vin Diesel shows up in Tokyo at the end of that movie, it would make sense for the new film to kick things off there. It’s all far more exciting and complicated than this franchise ever had any right to be, but that’s testament to the amazing job that Justin Lin did behind the camera. Let’s hope James Wan can carry on the good work in those new locations when “Fast & Furious 7” opens on July 11th 2014, while “Fast & Furious” 6 rolls out internationally from today, and hits U.S. theaters next Friday. Read our review here.