'I understand that the main players of the franchise started from the foundation and built this tremendous platform and I do not take that lightly.' 'This is a life-changing experience for me and I was invited into the success,' Cena added. You get thrust in there with a marquee talent on a blockbuster film franchise, you have to deliver,' he said, teasing his intense showdowns with Diesel. 'I think the theme here is Dom Toretto finally, after eight installments, facing the one thing that he never can, and that's his past.' 'Fighting Dom Toretto in The Fast & The Furious is like being in the main event of Wrestlemania. 'I remember shooting, I was in the cutting room and Vin would call me to talk about Dom as if like, you know, we're continuing our journey. So it felt right when the right idea landed that it was time to come back.' 'When I was gone, especially when I travel, fans will stop me and talk about the franchise and the characters,' he added of the films' enthusiastic fanbase. we've always talked about the final chapter, the final chapter, and when I left, I thought 'OK, that's it, I'm done,'' Lin recalled. 'But then one day, I woke up and I was like, 'Oh, I think I got the final chapter.' And so I called Vin, we called the studio, and then here we are.'

Now, he's back with his film family, and ready to shape the end of an era. The director oversaw the series' evolution, starting with 2006's The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, through the fourth, fifth and sixth movies, and helped shepherd the creative transition that took Dom and his crew from Los Angeles street racers to globetrotting enforcers. It's a tradition.'Įven Lin - who's been away from the franchise since directing Fast & Furious 6 in 2013 - admitted that he feels like he really never left the team behind. People watched it in the 2000s with their parents, now they're bringing their own kids to the game, to the mix. It's the fact that, you know, you're three generations in. 'There is something to be said about Fast & Furious being one of those movies that you see in the theater,' Rodriguez added. 'It's the experience of it.

Fast 9 cast