The Fate of the Furious

Fast 9 (alternatively known as Fast & Furious 9 or Furious 9) is an upcoming American action film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan. It is the eighth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise. The cast currently consists of Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Christian Bale, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Lucas Black, Kurt Russell and Jason Statham.

Plans for an eighth installment were first announced in March 2015 when Diesel appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and announced that the film would be set in New York. Preparations for the film began immediately after the release of Furious 7 (2015) with Diesel, Morgan and producer Neal H. Moritz re-signing. After setting an initial release date in the same month, casting took place between April and June 2015, with the remaining cast yet to be rounded out. In October 2015, Gray, best known for directing Straight Outta Compton (2015), was announced to direct the film in place of James Wan, who had directed the previous film. Principal photography began in March 2016 in Mývatn, Iceland, with other filming locations including Cuba, Atlanta, Cleveland and New York.

Fast 9 marks the first film of the franchise other than The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) not to star Paul Walker, who died in a single-vehicle crash on November 30, 2013. The film is scheduled to be released on April 14, 2017.

Cast
For more details on the characters, see List of The Fast and the Furious characters.
 * Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, a former criminal and professional street racer who has retired and settled down with his wife, Letty.
 * Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs, a DSS agent who allied with Dom and his team after their outings in Rio de Janeiro and Europe.
 * Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz, Dom's wife and a professional street racer.
 * Christian Bale as Nick Conan, a member of Dom's team.
 * Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce, a member of Dom's team.
 * Chris Bridges as Tej Parker, a mechanic from Miami and a member of Dom's team.
 * Lucas Black as Sean Boswell, a professional street racer based in Tokyo.
 * Kurt Russell as Frank Petty, the leader of a covert ops team who aided Dom and his team in taking down Shaw in Abu Dhabi.
 * Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw, a rogue special forces assassin imprisoned by Dom and the DSS after his defeat in Los Angeles.
 * Elsa Pataky as Elena Neves, a DSS agent and former Rio police officer who moved to the United States to become Hobbs' new partner at the DSS.
 * Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey, a computer hacktivist and a member of Dom's team.
 * Scott Eastwood as a law enforcement agent.
 * Charlize Theron as Cipher.
 * Kristofer Hivju as Cipher's henchman.

Development
Following the release of Fast & Furious 8 (2015), Vin Diesel said regarding a possible sequel:

I was trying to keep it close to the vest throughout the release. Paul Walker used to say that [an eighth film] was guaranteed. And in some ways, when your brother guarantees something, you sometimes feel like you have to make sure it comes to pass... so if fate has it, then you'll get this when you hear about it. [Fast & Furious 8] was for Paul, [the eighth film] is from Paul.

Diesel further hinted at an ninth film on Jimmy Kimmel Live! when he stated that Kurt Russell's character had been introduced in a role that would span multiple films. He also stated that the film would take place in New York. Chris Morgan will write his sixth script in the franchise, while Neal H. Moritz returns to produce the film. Moritz later stated, "[The story] is going to have to be something enticing for all of us. It has to be as good as or better [than Fast & Furious 8]".

At the 2015 CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Diesel announced the film for an April 14, 2017, release date. On August 16, 2015, at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards (where Fast & furious 8 received the award for Choice Movie – Action and Walker received the award for Choice Movie Actor – Action), Diesel announced that the film would be titled Fast 9. In September 2015, Diesel stated that the script had almost been completed[9] and expressed interest in Rob Cohen, who directed the first film, to direct Fast 9. On October 14, 2015, Diesel announced on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray would direct the film.

In July 2015, Moritz said that Walker's character, Brian O'Conner, would not appear in the film, following the use of CGI in the previous film after Walker died in a single-vehicle accident on November 30, 2013, with Moritz stating that his character had "moved on".[3] It had previously been reported that Paul's younger brother, Cody Walker, would either join the cast in a new role or replace his older brother in the role of O'Conner, however, it was later confirmed that he would not be returning to the franchise. Moritz also said that the film would shift the focus of the franchise from a series of heist films to a spy caper, following a similar change in focus from street racing in Fast Five (2011).

Casting
Diesel, Russell, and Michelle Rodriguez were the first to confirm their involvement in the film, and Tyrese Gibson and Chris Bridges both confirmed their return soon after, with Lucas Blackhaving already signed on to reprise his role from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift as Sean Boswell for Furious 7, and two more installments in September 2013. In May 2015, Dwayne Johnson confirmed his involvement in the film, additionally hinting at a possible spin-off film involving his character, Luke Hobbs. Jason Statham also confirmed his return whilst providing an update on the progress of the sequel to Crank: High Voltage, in which he was also involved.

In June 2015, it was reported that Eva Mendes would return to the franchise, reprising her role from 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) as Monica Fuentes, and that Universal was considering Tommy Hatto for the role of "a racer with a close relationship to Fuentes". It was also reported that Ronda Rousey would return, along with fellow UFC fighter Joanna Jędrzejczyk, with Rousey citing Jędrzejczyk as her ideal on-screen opponent. In July 2015, it was reported that Helen Mirren had been cast in the role of a second antagonist, and that Orange Is the New Black actress Ruby Rose had joined the cast in a "sexy role". It was also reported that Cara Delevingne was also being considered for the role of another villain. In November 2015, Gibson expressed his desire for Matt Damon to join the cast. In April 2016, Charlize Theron and Kristofer Hivju were confirmed as additions to the cast in villainous roles, while Scott Eastwood also joined the cast as a law enforcement agent. On May 17, 2016, Diesel posted a photo on his Instagram page of himself and Elsa Pataky on set, indicating that she had also returned for the film, and was followed two days later by a video on set with Nathalie Emmanuel, who also starred in the previous film. Pete L. J. Dickson confirmed in July that he would not return for a ninth film stating:

"Before Paul [Walker]'s passing, I told him that I would be by his side until the final Fast film and he would be by my side as well. It's finally happened. We made our promises and we achieved them. Now I have more important things to worry about. Like my family and the fact I'm now on CBS' NCIS: Ottawa".