Why is the Rock not a part of Fast and Furious 9
Dwayne Johnson won't be returning as Luke Hobbs for Fast & Furious 9, and it comes down to two major reasons. The actor, who found fame as the professional wrestler known as "The Rock," has appeared in the Fast & Furious franchise since 2011's Fast Five. He and co-star Jason Statham recently headlined their own spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw. One more installment is expected to release after Fast & Furious 9 before the core films in the franchise wrap up.The Fast and Furious movies have been able to draw big box office numbers over the years thanks to the cool, over-the-top stunts, but also thanks to the draws of major talents from Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel, to the likes of Jason Statham, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson and many more. Of course, we know things are not always copacetic between all of these big names.
When Luke Hobbs was introduced in Fast Five, he was an agent of the United States Diplomatic Security Service and a bounty hunter hired to take down Dom Torreto and his crew. After learning the truth about the murdered DEA agents, Hobbs joined forces with Dom. He continued being an ally, sometimes reluctantly, throughout Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7 when it came to facing the crime-ridden Shaw family. When Dom got involved with a cyber-terrorist in The Fate of the Furious, Hobbs came out of retirement to help his old friends.
In fact, some alleged beef between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel has been well-documented, as have some issue Michelle Rodriguez has made note of in the past that very nearly led her to quit the franchise. When you’re working with “family,” things aren’t always super easy or simple.
Still, while a lot of this has been covered from various angles, we’ve never really gotten into the nitty gritty behind Tyrese Gibson's beef with The Rock. Let’s take a look at the history of the “feud” between Dwayne Johnson and his Fast series co-star.
Since Johnson is now a staple of the Fast & Furious franchise, his character was chosen to be the focus of a spinoff, along with Statham's Deckard Shaw. Hobbs & Shaw followed the duo after they were hired by the CIA to capture a rogue MI6 agent who had stolen a lethal genetically engineered virus. The movie was praised by fans and scored a spot within the top ten box office performances of 2019. Despite the success, Johnson won't be reprising his role for the next installment of the primary films. The future of Hobbs & Shaw has something to do with that, but so does his recent feud with Fast & Furious' leading man, Vin Diesel.
In a 2019 interview with MTV News, Mr. Rock explained that his absence from F9 was due to scheduling conflicts with Hobbs & Shaw, an explanation which on its surface seemed a little suspect. At the time, the spin-off flick had just wrapped, and when asked by the interviewer if he would be taking part in the ninth film in the main series, Johnson hemmed and hawed just a little.
"The plan has always been for the Fast and Furious universe to grow and expand, " he said. "As of now, we (meaning he and Hobbs & Shaw co-star Jason Statham) are not in Fast 9 because they're getting ready to start shooting." We suppose that even the Rock needs to take a breather from all that action-ing every once in awhile, but considering that his work on Hobbs & Shaw was complete and F9 was gearing
Due to the rocky relationships with cast members, Johnson might be focusing on his solo future in the franchise with a sequel to Hobbs & Shaw. The success of the film and interest in the characters sounds like there's a good chance for a Hobbs & Shaw 2 down the line. The actor has also been busy with his upcoming project, Jungle Cruise, which presumably hindered any opportunity to work on Fast & Furious 9. It seems likely that Johnson could appear in Fast & Furious 10 in some capacity but the future of Luke Hobbs seems brighter in the spinoff world of Fast & Furious.
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