Fast Forever, the Fast X sequel due out in 2028, is getting yet another script rewrite, Vin Diesel has revealed. After what feels like an eternity in development, the final chapter in the Fast And Furious franchise – titled Fast Forever – appears to be on track, with its release set for the 17th March ... Fast Forever | The sequel to Fast X, out in 2028, is being rewritten again
Fast Forever, the Fast X sequel due out in 2028, is getting yet another script rewrite, Vin Diesel has revealed.
After what feels like an eternity in development, the final chapter in the Fast And Furious franchise – titled Fast Forever – appears to be on track, with its release set for the 17th March 2028. With filming presumably set to begin soon, series regular Vin Diesel has revealed that the script is getting a another rewrite.
Taking to Instagram, Diesel shared a monochrome image of himself and screenwriter Michael Lesslie, sitting and talking outside what we’re guessing must be Diesel’s fancy home in Los Angeles.
The image is accompanied by a lengthy slab of text, in which Diesel pays tribute to the franchise’s longevity (“25 years. Eight directors. Countless writers…”) and the dedication it takes into making those films box office hits.
“It happens because people show up and pour themselves into something bigger than any one individual,” he wrote. “Sitting across from Mike Leslie, [sic] hearing what he plans to contribute to the polish of the next chapter, that same feeling returned. A story with something real beating inside it.”
Lesslie, to give him his proper surname, is no stranger to writing larger-than-life entertainments. He wrote Justin Kurzel’s big-screen take on the Assassin’s Creed videogame franchise, the Hunger Games spin-off The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, and the heist sequel Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.
Nor is Lesslie Fast Forever's first screenwriter. Christina Hodson and Oren Uziel were announced as the Fast X sequel’s writers in 2023. Hollywood strikes and Fast X’s lukewarm reception saw plans for the follow-up change, however, and in 2024, Zach Dean was brought in to replace Hodson and Uziel. It’s now thought that Fast Forever won’t follow up the cliffhanger left behind by the previous film, and will instead play on nostalgia for the illegal street racing in the original The Fast And The Furious, released in 2001.
Two years on, and Dean has now been replaced by Lesslie. Diesel describes Lesslie’s contribution as a “polish”, though, so it probably isn’t an extensive, page-one rewrite.
Lesslie, an Oxford graduate, also has some work with real dramatic heft on his CV. He wrote Justin Kurzel’s visually glorious adaptation of Macbeth in 2015, and wrote this year’s modernised, distinctly British take on Hamlet, starring Riz Ahmed. It’s possible that Lesslie’s been brought in to add a bit of Shakespearian weight to what is billed as the franchise finale.
Speaking of Shakespearian weight, Diesel also threw in mention of his Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots film – a project he’s writing, producing and starring in and based on Mattel’s toy of the same name.
Diesel revealed that his Mum’s read the script and really likes it.
“Her reaction to this story was more than just a story about a toy,” he wrote. “It was about her. Her family. Her history. Seeing herself woven into something that will live in homes across the world […] That’s what keeps me here. The collision of artists around something that matters. One conversation leads to another. One collaboration opens a door you didn’t know was there. Nobody does this alone. Nobody ever did. That willingness to build something together that none of us could build alone, that’s my favorite thing about this work.”
Fast Forever is less than two years away. The saga, originally about a group of thieves who stole video recorders from lorries while they were still in transit, will finally be brought full circle. By the sounds of things, it’ll be a quiet, understated affair.
