Fast And Furious 9 Is Actually Going To Space, But Maybe It Shouldn't

The Fast & Furious franchise has never been afraid to raise the stakes, even if that meant racing souped-up muscle cars against airplanes, tanks, or even nuclear submarines--seriously, that's all happened. With the latest trailer for F9: The Fast Saga, though, a long-running fan theory has officially been confirmed: The Fast & Furious crew is going to space. Why? Who knows, but it's happening. Should it, though?

The final shot in the new trailer sees Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) seemingly blasting off to space in a muscle car that's been turned into a rocketship. While you could argue that's the next (il)logical leap for the franchise to make--and it's something fans have been asking for in recent years--it's possible this could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

After all, taking a hot rod into outer space seems utterly ridiculous, even for Fast & Furious. Though, it could potentially be grounded in some kind of reality.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director Justin Lin definitely makes it sound somewhat possible, explaining, "I'm on the phone with scientists, learning about fuel and physics... It was great, having the scientists on the other line going, ' Wait, what? What are you trying to do?' I love it."

Still, just because something can happen doesn't mean it should. There are (at least) two more Fast & Furious movies after 9 and, honestly, once you've gone to space, what else is left? This certainly feels like something you save for the final chapter, if you're going to do it at all. What's more, there are other earthbound places for the movie to go--including something that was first introduced in Fate of the Furious, the 8th installment of the franchise.

Why wouldn't you go underwater? Sure, they tinkered around with a nuclear submarine in Fate, but there are depths that have gone unexplored. Imagine Dom and the family racing hot rod submarines, avoiding krakens, massive whales, and maybe even a meg or two while chasing yet another Shaw sibling who's done something heinous but will be forgiven within two movies' time. Who doesn't want to see that?

Or perhaps it's time to properly make use of the skies. They've dropped cars out of planes and crashed through them, but why not turn Dom's Dodge Charger into a fighter plane and let him rip through the skies chasing Cypher's mysterious jumbo jet?

Instead, the movie is going to space, and anything that comes next will be (pun absolutely intended) a downshift in terms of the over-the-top ridiculousness the Fast & Furious family is so keen to deliver us every few years. And sure, maybe F9 simply introduces the idea of sending them to space and in F10 they'll face hot rodding aliens or Biker Mice from Mars. But ultimately, it feels like a lot of excellent material is being left behind due to going as big as they possibly can, skipping a few steps.

Does this mean F9 will be bad? Of course not. It'll probably be the greatest movie of all time. After all, John Cena is there, Han is alive, and the Tokyo Drift gang is getting back together. What more can we ask for? But this feels like a short-term gain at the expense of the long term.

In fact, there's really only one way to top going to space. In F10, Dom is going to have to drive so fast that he goes back in time to the first movie, where he meets his former self. He can then tell past Dom about all of the insanity that has happened to him in the two decades since the initial The Fast and the Furious movie, which would ultimately change the timeline. After all, we can't forget that in the first film, Dom was merely a street racer who stole DVD players. My, how far he's come. From there, in F11, which is supposed to be the final film in the main series, the two Doms will have to work together to correct the timeline and establish the universe.

That's right, if we're going to space in F9, then F11 needs to be starring Vin Diesel... And Vin Diesel. Then we can properly say goodbye to the most ridiculous and wonderful movie franchise of them all. That is, until they do a revival in a few years and the gang gets back together to save the planet from a massive asteroid that threatens to wipe everything out of existence.

In the meantime, we're just going to keep thinking about these possibilities while we wait for F9: The Fast Saga to hit theaters on June 25.