The Fast & Furious franchise is shifting gears from the big screen to streaming services as an animated series on Netflix. The upcoming series will offer fans a look at Dom Toretto’s teenage cousin Tony after he’s recruited by the government to fight crime by infiltrating an elite racing league.

After eight movies, one 3D ride at Universal Studios, an upcoming spinoff with Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, and two more movies being released within the next three years, the multi-billion dollar Fast & Furious franchise shows no signs of slowing down. So, to expand the franchise even further, Netflix is commencing its expanded multi-year deal with DreamWorks Animation Television to produce a Fast & Furious animated series revolving around characters not yet introduced in the series. The plot will focus on Tony Toretto, the teenage cousin of Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto. Not unlike his cousin, Tony and his friends are recruited by the government in order to infiltrate an underground crime ring posing as an elite racing league.

The Fast & Furious animated series is part of one of several partnerships between Netflix and DreamWorks Animation Television. Margie Cohn, President of DreamWorks Animation Television, said in an official statement that the studio is “excited to extend and expand [their] successful relationship with Netflix by not only delivering more high-quality DreamWorks programming, but connecting fans of Universal films with fascinating new stories.” She added that the studio’s “new home at Universal marks an exciting new chapter for storytelling at our studio.” The series will be executive produced by a team of producers affiliated with both DreamWorks and the Fast & Furious franchise, including Vin Diesel.


This upcoming series is the first one in Netflix and DreamWorks Animation Television’s expanded ongoing multi-year deal. The two studios have already released 14 original series’ together, including Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro’s Trollhunters and the Madagascar spinoff series All Hail King Julien. However, the Fast & Furious spinoff will mark the first series adaptation derived from a PG-13 movie from the studios.

As exciting as this might be for Fast & Furious fans, this won’t be the first time that a live-action film got the animated series treatment. Everything from The Mummy to Star Wars has been adapted into animated television by now, and the results tend to be very inconsistent. While the transition to animation has paid off well for some (see Star Wars), others have tried it and failed (see Jumanji). That said, given the award-winning creative team behind the Fast & Furious series, the project is in good hands. The Netflix/DreamWorks relationship has resulted in 17 Emmy Award wins so far (not to mention 21 nominations in the 2018 Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards), so maybe there is hope for this animated series after all.