After Fast & Furious 9, the franchise's next spinoff movie is confirmed to be Tokyo Drift 2 - and it'll be bringing back the fan-favorite character Han Lue. Originally the first spinoff movie in the series (though it's perhaps now considered a part of the mainline story), Tokyo Drift released in 2006 and introduced fans to a new part of street racing: drifting. Because of that, it mainly took place in Japan and was, therefore, able to introduce characters that audiences hadn't seen before and some that have now moved into the main films.

Lucas Black's Sean Boswell was one of those main characters who's now set to appear in Fast & Furious 9, but it was Sung Kang's Han Lue who stood out the most. That's because he was someone who had a mysterious past, ties to the Yakuza, and died in a surprise twist (which was later used as a plot device in Furious 7). Now he's returning for Fast & Furious 9. It's unclear exactly how Han is alive, and that's something that won't be revealed until the highly-anticipated sequel arrives in theaters in 2021. But thankfully, it looks like Kang's return as Han won't just be for one movie.

Universal Pictures announced today that following the release of Fast & Furious 9, they will be making Tokyo Drift 2, with the film's director, Justin Lin, returning to helm the sequel. Lin has now directed five installments in the Fast & Furious franchise, including F9. It's unclear if this will release before or after Fast & Furious 10, which was originally supposed to come out in 2021, but it's the next movie that Lin and Kang will be working on together.


The Fast & Furious franchise certainly isn't what it once was, especially when Tokyo Drift released in 2006. Back then, there was the first movie and then a run-of-the-mill sequel that only starred one of the two main characters. Tokyo Drift was an attempt to attract new viewers and potentially expand on the story as a whole - both of which worked. It's what led to Lin returning for 2009's Fast & Furious with the original cast. Since then, the Fast & Furious series has gone to new heights - literally and financially - and is now churns out overwhelmingly successful films every other year.

Sure, The Fast and the Furious was the first movie, but Tokyo Drift was the real turning point. And so, making Tokyo Drift 2 is like The Fast Saga going back to its roots, to an extent. But what's more exciting is that Fast & Furious 9 is reuniting Han and Sean, along with Jason Tobin's Earl Hu, which makes this the perfect time to send them back to Japan for another adventure in Tokyo Drift 2. We'll just have to wait and see what the story ends up being about, which we won't know until at least 2021.

F9/Fast & Furious 9 (2020)
Release Date: Apr 02, 2021