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Will Fast & Furious End In A Trilogy?

The Fast & Furious franchise is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. It’s one that has been around for a long while and it only seems to be getting better despite a lot of the silliness going on. From it’s humble beginnings as ‘Point Break with cars’, it’s turned into a massive money maker for Universal with the latest entry, Furious 7, earning $1.5 billion.

Despite how lucrative the series is and a release date set for the eighth entry in April of 2017, no director has been attached. Seven films in a series is incredible, and it seems that Universal is looking to cap off the entire franchise with a final trilogy (Fast & Furious 8, 9, 10). Here’s what producer and star Vin Diesel has revealed on a recent Facebook post:

"The fans of the Fast & Furious SAGA are the best fans in the world... Since I became the Producer in 2008, you have been with me every step of the way... literally giving me feedback that proved invaluable. Thank you.

"My producing partner Neal would love for me to just sign off on a director, but this is too special a franchise, so these matters have to be very carefully handled. To be clear, NO ONE has been offered to helm Fast 8 yet... let alone seen a script.

"Universal has been so good to me and so trusting of the vision... they have been like family... I promised the studio I would deliver one last Trilogy to end the saga. I will announce the directors on my next post… "

The series is facing trouble in that Justin Lin director of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth films which really elevated the series has gone on to direct Star Trek Beyond. Meanwhile, director of Furious 7 James Wan has gone on to direct The Conjuring 2, meaning that they need to find a new director to helm the eighth film. From the sound of it, Diesel isn’t looking to direct the film himself, which may be for the best. You'll also notice he said "directors," which could mean they have more than one lined up (or it's a typo).

Ending on the tenth film sounds like a great idea but I wonder if there won’t be an eleventh film. The series has introduced a lot of new characters as part of the crew over the years that have come and gone. Universal could play their cards right and introduce several supporting characters in the next three films that could become the main cast for an eleventh film.

Don’t forget that fan favorite character Han was introduced in Tokyo Drift but became a main character of the crew for the next three films. The films have become such ensemble pieces that they could start swapping out the old guard slowly and morph into an all new crew.

Fast & Furious 8 will premiere in theaters on April 14, 2017.

Image: Universal