Dwayne Johnson Thanks Vin Diesel, Hints at Fast & Furious Return

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Dwayne Johnson has thanked Vin Diesel for his support on Hobbs & Shaw, and teased his return in a future mainline Fast & Furious sequel. It was The Rock's role as DSS agent Luke Hobbs in 2011's Fast Five that helped to transform the former wrestler into a full-blown superstar, and catapulted the Fast & Furious franchise itself to previously-unscaled box office heights. The property has only gotten bigger and more profitable in the years since then, culminating with the release of this year's spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw. Of course, it's seen its fair share of struggles along the way.

In addition to Paul Walker's death mid-production on Furious 7, Johnson and Diesel infamously butted heads during filming on the eighth Fast & Furious movie, 2017's The Fate of the Furious. This was followed by Tyrese Gibson publicly accusing Johnson of being "selfish" after The Rock went on to star in the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff, and Fast & Furious 9 was delayed from 2019 to a 2020 release date. More recently, Gibson took a swipe at Hobbs & Shaw after it opened lower than anticipated at the U.S. box office (he later deleted the post). However, it looks like Johnson and Diesel are now officially putting their own bad blood behind them.

Recently, Diesel took to social media to congratulate Johnson on his success of late, including Hobbs & Shaw's worldwide performance and his marriage to his longtime partner, Lauren Hashian, back in August. The Rock returned the favor in a video post to his Instagram account, thanking Diesel for not only his "classy" support, but for bringing him aboard the Fast & Furious franchise ten years ago. He then went on to hint at his return in a future non-spinoff, quoting Hobbs from Fast Five by (playfully) saying "I'll be seeing you, Toretto". Take a look, below.

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It's good to see Diesel and Johnson have publicly put their "feud" behind them and are looking ahead to the future. There's no real reason for their conflict to carry on at this point anyway, now that Johnson has his own successful Fast & Furious off-shoot and Diesel continues to star in the mainline movie series. If anything, by continuing to play up the tensions between them, both actors risk hurting the brand at large. Instead, Johnson has now opened the door for his return as Hobbs in Fast & Furious 10, which will (supposedly) bring the Toretto Saga to an end. Fans will no doubt want Johnson to return for Diesel's (for real this time) final ride on the property, and bring the Dom-Hobbs story thread to a satisfying close in the process.

That said, Johnson's own run in the Fast & Furious universe could be far from over. Thanks to a significant turnout in China, Hobbs & Shaw has grossed enough at the worldwide box office to guarantee that Universal will, at the very least, give serious consideration to developing a sequel (assuming it doesn't simply green-light one before the end of the year). The movie has already laid the groundwork for a followup by introducing new sidekicks for its eponymous protagonists, in addition to a mysterious villain who could potentially be played by an A-lister down the line. And who knows: now that Diesel and Johnson are officially on good terms again, it's possible a certain Toretto will be popping up in a future Hobbs & Shaw adventure as well.

Fast & Furious 9 (2020) release date: May 22, 2020