The Fast & Furious franchise has come to be one of the longest-running movie franchises that has resulted in audiences wondering what is left of the world to explore. With the classic elements of the Fast & Furious films having been reused so many times now, fans seem to be anticipating elements that are new and fresh.

If there’s one thing that fans of the franchise are familiar with, it’s the strong sense of family in these films. With family and fast vehicles being the essential components of these movies, there’s no reason that the storyline couldn’t easily be carried over to a space setting.

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So far in the nine films that have already been made, the gang has been to many places and driven many vehicles but the storylines and characters always stay true to the same beats. With these beats being altered as much as they can by changing locations and modes of transportation, the writers aren’t left with much more that could jazz up the traditional parts of the story. Because of this, the remaining films in the franchise must tie up any loose ends in the story, as well as stand out against the other nine films.

Fast & Furious_Racing

What puts a particular amount of pressure on the following films is that they will be the final films in the long running franchise. The makers have confirmed that there will be a tenth and eleventh film but the story will end there. Because these two movies are expected to answer all the remaining questions and show what the future of the family looks like they will undoubtedly have a lot to unpack.

Further, because the initial storyline of the family has been stretched so far, it is perhaps time to explore what the next generation of the family is like- or even several generations later. Exploring later generations in space that can reflect back on their predecessors (the characters we know and love) would achieve all of the usual beats of an F&F film but would add entirely new components to the traditional structure.

However, it’s easy to say that a long-running film franchise should be considerate of the new elements they bring to each movie. Some franchises’ story beats are dense enough to span across multiple movies with small changes and it’s enough to keep viewers interested. Unfortunately, for the Fast & Furious movies, fans seem to feel that this is not the case for its storyline of fast cars and catching criminals. After F9 many fans of the movie began poking fun at the tropes of the films, like the concept of family, because they were so reiterated throughout the films, which is a clear indicator that there’s a need for new content in the films.

Fast & Furious_Gang

Again, the biggest differences between the films so far has been changes in setting and changes in the modes of transportation. By setting either of the final films in space, not only would it stick to the common changes made, but it would also close the storyline in a very final way considering that racing in space is likely still pretty far in the future. The gang has already been to several well-known locations across the globe, like several states in the U.S., Tokyo, Rio, and more, making anywhere left on Earth seem like not enough. They’ve already ridden in motorcycles, submarines, planes and more so the audience has essentially seen it all. It’s pretty much to the point where the only thing left to explore is space and the ships needed to traverse it.

Setting the story in space would almost give the tropes of the films a clean slate. The gang could go anywhere in space and the racing could look like whatever the writers wanted and the same goes for the ships- they can look like anything. By setting it in space, the new possibilities would be endless because it would be set somewhere where there is not already a common prior understanding. Viewers don’t have any idea what other planets in space would be like to race on or what style of ship would be the best to race in, giving it endless potential for this storyline. Setting it in space would essentially give the writers the creative freedom to conclude this storyline or begin an entirely new one.

While some fans may be hesitant of a change as big as going to space, big change is inevitable with a franchise that is over two decades old. Whether or not the writers decide to take the story to space, the storyline will undeniably need a makeover of some sort that ups the stakes of the story. While the films could simply achieve this by going somewhere on Earth that would make for a grand and fresh twist, like the pyramids, such changes would allow less freedom than going somewhere with no prior history or associations.

Fast & Furious_Action

Regardless of whether the films decide to continue to zoom around LA or journey to the stars, it’s safe to say that the Fast & Furious films are an action series that should go out with a bang. No matter what route they decide to go for the final two movies, they’ll have to go bigger if they want the franchise to leave a lasting impression on the fans that have been coming back to see these movies for years.

Fast & Furious 10 is set to be released on April 7, 2023.

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