Fast & Furious Franchise to Go Out With Thunderous 2026 Grand Finale 'Fast X: Part 2'

Start your engines one last time, Fast family. After over two decades of heart-stopping heists, mind-blowing stunts and nitrous-fueled thrills, the beloved Fast & Furious franchise is preparing to cross the finish line with an 11th and final high-octane installment set to arrive in 2026.

In an exclusive interview, Fast X director Louis Leterrier revealed that the yet-to-be-titled finale is slated to begin filming in early 2024, with the action combusting onto the big screen exactly 25 years after The Fast and the Furious first screeched into theaters in 2001. Billed as an appropriately star-studded sendoff, the movie will fittingly bring the multibillion-dollar saga back to its street racing roots in Los Angeles.

“We wanna bring it back home,” Leterrier explained, “and still have a great big journey to tell.” The filmmaker is determined to go full throttle on an adrenaline-pumping culmination that pays loving homage to the series’ grounded origins while delivering one last explosive, globe-trotting ride for the fan-favorite crew of precision drivers, hot-wiring hackers and daring mercenaries.

While plot specifics remain tightly under wraps, the film is expected to pick up after the cliffhanger climax of Fast X, which saw the family’s longtime patriarchal figure Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) shielding his son from vengeful villain Dante (Jason Momoa) amid apparent casualties.

Tyrese Gibson, who plays wisecracking comic relief Roman Pearce, offered few plot details but teased that the script is being shaped by fan feedback to incorporate more of the nitro-boosted street racing sequences that kicked off the franchise.

“I know that fans over the years have been wanting to kind of ground the film and get back to street racing and get away from being in outer space and all the other stuff,” Gibson revealed. A welcome return to form for critics who felt recent hyper-exaggerated installments sacrificed the series’ gritty roots for ludicrous sci-fi spectacle.

Beyond Diesel and series stalwarts like Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster and Ludacris, Leterrier will have a stacked ensemble cast to work with, as Gibson indicated that franchise heavyweights like Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and Helen Mirren are all expected to return.

The film will also serve as a poignant farewell to the late Paul Walker’s beloved character Brian O’Conner, who was written out after the star’s tragic death but forever remains an integral part of the Fast family.

So buckle up, East Los Angelenos and street racers worldwide – one last ride down those famed winding asphalt lanes awaits in 2026. If the Fast saga really does live its life a quarter-mile at a time, then it’s going out massively over-boosted and furiously full-throttle.