With the ever expanding family in the Fast & Furious series – and The Fast Saga coming out with the first part of its big finale this summer – let’s take a look at the road behind us and quickly recap the highlights to get yourself ready for Fast X.
The below recaps do contain ***SPOILERS*** for all movies in the The Fast Saga.
The Original Trilogy
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
The first movie in the series sees Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) going undercover to investigate an LA street crew who has been hijacking trucks and stealing the supplies within. While undercover, Brian joins up with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew, including: Dom’s girlfriend Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), Dom’s sister – who becomes Brian’s love interest – Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), and Dom’s childhood friend Vince (Matt Schulze). As Brian investigation deepens, he learns that the crew he’s looking for is the Toretto crew. Brian struggles with the action of turning them in and ultimately lets Dom go, due to gained respect.
2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
Note: no Dom or Toretto crew in this.
Ex-cop and fugitive Brian O’Conner is brought back into the FBI to help take down a drug lord, Carter Verone (Cole Hauser). With the help of his friends: paroled Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej Parker (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) as well as undercover cop Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes). As they work together, they take down Verone and in the process clear the criminal records of Brian and Roman.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
Note: Chronologically, this movie is revealed to take place between Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7. Except for a Dom cameo, no Toretto crew in this.
High schooler Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is sent off to Tokyo, where he teams up with Han Lue (Sung Kang), Twinkie (Bow Wow), Earl Hu (Jason Tobin), and Neela (Nathalie Kelley) to race against Takashi (Brian Lee) – who has an uncle that is head of the Yakuza, Kamata (Sonny Chiba). Han is killed in the process but to avenge him, Sean races Takashi; Sean wins and becomes the new Drift King. Dominic Toretto shows up at the end to talk with Sean about Han, whom he considered to be family.
The Quasi-Reboot & Retcon Trilogy
Fast & Furious (2009)
Dom has been a fugitive on the run with girlfriend Letty and a new heist “family” that includes Han. When their latest heist draws too much police attention, Dom breaks up the crew – including leaving Letty. Later, news of Letty’s death brings Dom back to LA and reunites him with his sister Mia – as well as with Brian who now works for the FBI. Dom and Brian infiltrate a drug smuggling operation by the drug lord Arturo Braga (John Ortiz) which is co-headed by liaison Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot), whom Letty was working for when she died. During a drug exchange, Braga almost kills Gisele, but she is saved by Dom; Gisele then works with the Toretto crew to bring Braga down. After turning in Braga, Dom is arrested.
Fast Five (2011)
Brian and Mia free Dom from a prison bus and head to Rio de Janeiro, where they meet up with their old crew member Vince. The three of them do a job for the drug lord Hernan Reyes (Joaquin de Almeida); during the job some of Reyes’ men turn on the crew and kill DEA agents – which are then blamed on the Toretto crew. DEA agents Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky) begin a manhunt for the Toretto crew. Mia reveals she is pregnant with Brian’s baby leading the crew to decide to steal Reyes’ money. They bring in a few more people to help them with their heist: Roman, Tej, Han, and Gisele. Soon, the DEA catches up with them and arrests everyone but while being transported they are ambushed by Reyes’ men and Hobbs entire crew. All DEA agents – except for Elena – are killed, while Toretto crew member Vince is also killed. Hobbs and Elena team up with the Toretto crew to take down Reyes. They successfully pull off the money heist, killing Reyes in the process. Elena decides to leave the DEA. Hobbs tells Dom and his crew that he still has to arrest them, but can give them a 24 hour head start.
Mid-credit scene: Monica Fuentes visits Hobbs to show him a very recently taken picture of Letty.
Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
After the heist in Fast Five: Dom now lives with Elena, Brian and Mia are raising their son, Han and Gisele are now together, and Roman and Tej are living it up. Hobbs and Riley Hicks (Gina Carano) locate Dom to show him a picture of Letty, revealing she is alive and working for a very dangerous special ops solider: Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). Hobbs says he will offer the crew a clean slate if they help take down Owen. During the search for Owen, Dom comes face to face with Letty but she attacks him; they learn she has amnesia. The pursuit of Owen leads to a highway chase where Letty is almost killed, but saved by Dom. The Toretto crew is able to capture Owen, but Owen mentions that his men have captured Mia. They let him go, only for Riley to reveal that she has been working with Owen the whole time. Letty stays with Dom. They track down Owen and his crew to an airplane, where Dom, Brian, Letty, and Hobbs board the plane, while the rest of the crew try to keep it from taking off. During the chaos: Gisele sacrifices herself to save them, Brian saves Mia, and Letty kills Riley. Dom takes down the plane and seriously injures Owen. The Toretto crew moves back to LA where they are all pardoned. Elena understands that Dom loves Letty and becomes Hobbs’s partner again.
Mid-credit scene: we see the moment from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift where Han is killed. It is revealed that Owen’s brother, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), was behind Han’s murder, and now he is coming for Dom.
Expanding the Family Trilogy
Furious 7 (2015)
Note: Lucas Black has a cameo in this film as his The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift character Sean Boswell.
This is also Paul Walker’s final appearance as Brian O’Conner, due to Walker’s unfortunate death in November 2013.
After having been pardoned, Brian, Mia, Roman, and Tej get back to normal life as Dom helps Letty gain her memories back. Deckard Shaw infiltrates the DSS office to get info on Dom and his crew, but is interrupted by Luke Hobbs. They fight and Deckard escapes, leaving Hobbs incredibly injured. Dom gets his crew together to go after Deckard, but are intercepted by government agent Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell). He explains that he needs the Toretto crew to help him locate Nigerian terrorist Mose Jakande (Djimon Hounsou), who is in possession of a computer program called God’s Eye, a hacking device that can locate certain individuals. Mr. Nobody reveals that he needs that technology, Jakande, and God’s Eye creator Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) rescued – and he will help them take down Deckard. They succeed in their mission, in the process killing Jakande and capturing Deckard. In the midst of the chaos, Mia tells Brian that she is pregnant with their second child. Brian retires from the Toretto crew to take care of his family, as Dom and Brian drive off in separate directions.
The Fate of the Furious (2017)
While Dom and Letty are on their honeymoon, Dom is approached by a cyberterrorist, Cipher (Charlize Theron). After they return home, Hobbs reaches out to Dom to help him retrieve an EMP device, stating he needs the best crew. Dom gets Letty, Roman, Tej, and Ramsey to help with the mission. After securing the EMP, Dom goes rogue and sabotages the mission, stealing the EMP. Hobbs is arrested for stealing the EMP and is transported to the same prison as Deckard. Mr. Nobody helps them escape in order to track down Dom and Cipher. We find out that Dom went rogue because Cipher captured Elena and her son . . . who is actually also Dom’s son that he was unaware of. As Dom continues to do jobs for Cipher, he tries to figure out ways to get free from her and save his family. During one of the missions, he secretly meets up with Magdalene Shaw (Helen Mirren), mother of Deckard and Owen Shaw, for help. Before Dom can finish the mission, he is confronted by his crew and they try to take him down. Dom breaks away but before he can fully escape, Letty meets him face to face; instead of killing her, Dom lets her go. This upsets Cipher; she retaliates by killing Elena in front of Dom. Cipher and Dom obtain a nuclear submarine, which she plans to use to start a nuclear war. Hobbs, Letty, Roman, Tej, and Ramsey show up to try to stop them. Meanwhile, Magdalene Shaw sets up for her sons to enter the plane that Dom’s son is being held in. Once they are able to get the son to safety, Dom breaks away from Cipher and rejoins his crew – taking down the submarine. Afterwards, Dom is reunited with his son, who he names Brian, and thanks Deckard for his help and welcomes him as part of the family.
Fast & Furious Present: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Note: This is considered a spin-off film; no Dom or Toretto crew in this.
Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw reluctantly team up to locate a super virus called Snowflake. The last trace of the currently dormant virus has been injected into Deckard’s sister, MI6 agent Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby). Hattie in turn is being pursued by Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), an ex-MI6 agent now working for Eteon – who also want the virus. They eventually meet up with Hattie and get the virus out of her, as well as fight Brixton. Before they are able to finish off Brixton, the mysterious Director of Eteon terminates Brxiton remotely.
The Beginning of the Final Trilogy
F9: The Fast Saga (2021)
Dom and Letty are living in LA, raising Dom’s son, Brian Toretto. Roman, Tej, and Ramsey arrive to tell them that Cipher was arrested by Mr. Nobody, but his plane when down. They go to the crash site and find a computer hacking system, called Project Aries. But they are soon ambushed by a military group headed by Dom’s long lost brother, Jakob Toretto (John Cena). Jakob is able to obtain Aries and escape. Jakob meets up with his boss, Otto (Thue Ersted Rasmussen), who captured Cipher. Mia Toretto joins back up with Dom and his crew to help go after their brother. They learns that Project Aries has connections to their fallen member, Han. As Dom tries to locate his brother, Mia and Letty head off to Tokyo; meanwhile Roman, Tej, and Ramsey locate Sean Boswell, Twinkie, and Earl Hu, who have been making a rocket car. Roman, Tej, and Ramsey meet up with Dom in London, where they capture Jakob. In their safe house, Mia and Letty return from Tokyo with fully alive and healthy Han, along with is ward Elle (Anna Sawai). Han reveals that Deckard Shaw thought he killed Han, but in reality, he was saved last minute by Mr. Nobody, who gave Han the mission to protect Elle and Project Aries, as Elle’s blood is the key to activate Aries. Otto shows up at the safe house and rescues Jakob while also taking Elle and Aries. Otto teams up with Cipher and gets into an armored truck and launches a satellite, while Cipher uses a drone to fight. During the fight Roman and Tej use the rocket car to launch into space to take out the satellite. Otto double crosses Jakob, who is then saved by Dom and Mia. Cipher tries to take out Dom, but mistakenly kills Otto; she then escapes. In the end the crew sit down to eat dinner at their LA home. Feeling like someone is missing, Mia says Brian O’Conner is on his way.
Extra Credit
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers (2019 – 2021)
More of a fun kids computer animated spin off of the series, 6 seasons all on Netflix. It follows Dominic Toretto’s cousin, Tony Toretto and his crew as they do missions for Ms. Nowhere. Dominic Toretto appears in a few episodes and is voiced by Vin Diesel, but overall I don’t see any connection to the main films.
Future Family
Well there we have it! Fast X is the first part of the two part finale to the series. Are you ready to gather with the family and drink some coronas? I am getting really excited for it myself. We know that Jason Momoa is playing Dante Reyes, son of the villain Hernan Reyes from Fast Five.
Questions I have: will we ever see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in another Fast & Furious movie – or will we see another Hobbs & Shaw sequel? Will anyone else come back from the “dead”? Also, it is starting to feel very weird that Brian O’Conner isn’t around. Unfortunately due to the death of Paul Walker back in 2013, his character was written out, but with technology being where it is now, wouldn’t it be great to see Brian on screen again? We will find out more on May 19, 2023!
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Love Nerd Union? Consider supporting us over on Patreon. You’ll get access to early access articles, commercial-free video essays, online discussions and more. Plus, you will be directly responsible for supporting journalism in a field that’s currently being overwhelmed by clickbait focused sites. Supporting us keeps the lights on but it also sets a standard to sites in our field about fair wage practices, citing sources, debunking unconfirmed sources, and helps us investigate stories better.
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