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Fast X Director “Brokered” Dwayne Johnson’s Return To Fast & Furious Franchise

Fast & Furious fans owe a big thanks to Louis Leterrier for pulling off the impossible.

Fast X Director “Brokered” Dwayne Johnson’s Return To Fast & Furious Franchise

Warning: This story contains Fast X spoilers

By now, you should know that Dwayne Johnson has returned to the Fast & Furious franchise. And if you don’t know anything about it — oops!— now you do.

In the mid-credits stinger of Fast X, which opened on Thursday (May 18), Johnson shows up as Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs, the role he played in four Fast & Furious sequels (starting with 2011’s Fast Five) and one-spin-off, 2019’s Hobbs & Shaw, which he co-starred with Jason Statham.

Turns out, Hobbs had a part in the death of villain Dante Reyes' (Jason Momoa) father and junior wants payback. 

The Rock’s Fast & Furious comeback seems a little shocking especially how adamant he’d been about working with series star and architect Vin Diesel, whom with he had a falling out during the making of 2017’s The Fate of the Furious.

While Johnson and Diesel have yet to reveal how this reunion came about, Fast X director Louis Leterrier — who replaced Justin Lin after the latter quit just days into production — offered his side of the story to The Hollywood Reporter.

“Who brokered the peace treaty?” the outlet asked.

“The peace treaty … I kind of [brokered it],” said the Frenchman, who’s also known for directing The Transporter, Clash of the Titans and The Incredible Hulk. “We all did. Ultimately, the movie did.

“We sort of looked at each other from across the room and winked a few months back, saying, ‘We should work together.’ And then I had this idea and I presented it to the producers and the studio.

“And then we reached out to Dwayne and his team, and said, ‘Just come and watch the movie. You have to love the movie first.’ So he came to see the movie and really loved it, and then we started talking. It was very smooth, and frankly, as a fan, I could not conceive continuing the franchise without either Dwayne or Gal Gadot.”

Yes, we need to talk about Gal Gadot.

The Wonder Woman star played Gisele Yashar, a former Agency operative who ended up in Dominic Torello’s crew — and, ahem, the bed of Sung Kang’s Han — over three movies,  starting with 2009’s Fast & Furious. The character was killed off in Fast & Furious 6 while trying to stop an airplane from taking off a runway that never ends.

But guess what? News of Gisele’s death has been greatly exaggerated when she surfaces (literally... in a friggin' submarine) at the end of Fast X. How did she survive the fiery crash? Only Charlize Theron’s Cipher has the answer.

While Leterrier didn’t address Gisele’s miraculous resurrection in the Hollywood Reporter interview, he did say that her scenes, unlike her cameo in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, weren’t directed remotely.

“I was on the set with her,” said Leterrier. “I was lucky enough to see Gal Gadot and give her a big hug and a thank you at the end of the shoot.

“That was a highlight for me. I was lucky enough to direct one commercial with her, and I saw the power of Gal Gadot for 30 seconds. So, now that I get to not only work with her but also bring back Gisele into the franchise, I’m the happiest fan in the world.”

The Fast & Furious movies have a history of bringing characters back from the dead. Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty supposedly perished in Fast & Furious but was resurrected in Fast & Furious 6; Sung Kang’s Han met his demise in 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift/2015’s Furious 7 but was revived in Fast 9: The Fast Saga.

Will Han and Gisele get back together again in the second half of Fast X finale (IMDB currently lists it as Fast X: Part 2), which will again be directed by Leterrier? Their reunion is going to be really awkward.

Fast X is now in cinemas. Shazam! Fury of the Gods arrives on HBO Go on May 23. 

Photos: TPG News/Click Photos

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