'Furious 9': Kurt Russell on board despite no script, Charlize Theron returning?
Kurt Russell is interested in reprising his role as Mr. Nobody in the next installment in the franchise.
"Fast and the Furious" is a train that just won't stop. With the massive success that is "Fate of the Furious" and two more films planned for the future, many are waiting to see what's in store for Vin Diesel's Dom and what's left of his crew. For starters, "Furious 9" doesn't have a script just yet, but the latest installment's box office numbers guarantees at least a sequel. In fact, there's at least one actor aside from Vin Diesel who's already on board for the ninth installment.
According to Screen Rant, Kurt Russell has expressed his desire to reprise his role as Mr. Nobody in the franchise.
If the script permits, a possible "Furious 9" appearance will mark his third outing as the character in the franchise, which latest installment enjoyed $532 million at the box office.
"All my life I’ve never been one for sequels," Russell explained to Screen Rant in talking about "Furious 9." "But we live in a different time now. We live in a time where that’s the norm." The actor explained that if there's anything one must learn from sequels, it's that "you can’t just throw a sequel out there because you did good business.
You have to go after it to make it even better."
The challenge now lies in the hands of the director, producer, and scriptwriters who are to create "Furious 9." As per Digital Spy, producer Neal Moritz explained that they're taking it one step at a time, saying, "[I'm] the one constantly saying to people, 'One great movie at a time. Let's make it great and then work on 9.'"
"I believe that we've got to prove to the audience each time that there's a reason for them to come back for the next one," Moritz mused.
This rings true, especially for an expensive franchise such as "Fast and the Furious."
Spoiler alert: At the end of "Fate of the Furious," Charlize Theron's Cipher escapes, and this doesn't bode well for Dom and his crew. There's no confirmation yet on whether the actress will return for "Furious 9," but it looks like the storyline leaves the door open for her to be a multi-film villain instead of just the typical one-off.
According to Comicbook, this is one of the ways that the franchise is setting up "Furious 9," with the introduction of new characters that wouldn't necessarily replace the old ones who have parted ways from the film.
Instead, they're there to usher in a new "Fast and the Furious" era that will hopefully tell more compelling stories of family and brotherhood. The film is now showing in cinemas.