Why Hobbs & Shaw 2 Is Taking So Long
With Fast X and Fast & Furious 11 ending the franchise soon, Hobbs & Shaw 2 seems to be taking too long. There are various reasons behind the delays.
There are various reasons why Hobbs & Shaw 2 hasn’t been released yet. With 10 big-screen installments, one spinoff, one animated series, and two short films under its belt, the Fast & Furious franchise clearly has enough material to continue dominating Hollywood for a long time. Even after two movies where the Fast and Furious franchise could have ended perfectly, Dominic Toretto and his family keep finding creative ways to keep going. On the other hand, the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff series appears to have stagnated after only one movie.
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw signaled a big step towards the consolidation of a Fast & Furious cinematic universe. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw, two of the franchise’s many charismatic characters, are a recipe for box office success, and fortunately for the spinoff, they lived up to the expectations. But after Hobbs & Shaw’s release, the Fast Saga moved on with F9 and Fast X, as well as plans for the end of the main franchise with Fast and Furious 11, all without solid progress on Hobbs & Shaw 2.
To the delight of many Fast & Furious fans, Hobbs & Shaw 2 hasn’t been canceled. In fact, the cast and crew seem ready to dive in. However, there are various factors keeping the project behind. From Johnson’s availability thanks to other projects to much-publicized conflict with the rest of the Fast & Furious family, Hobbs & Shaw has a more troubled background than its commercial success suggests. However, despite these difficulties, hope is not lost for the follow-up.
Up until April 2020, series producer Hiram Garcia and star Dwayne Johnson provided some updates on Hobbs & Shaw 2, with Johnson stating that mainstay Fast & Furious writer Chris Morgan will pen the sequel, and that “Seven Bucks Productions will produce again” (via Instagram). After several months of relative silence, Fast & Furious producer Kelly McCormick stated that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and other interfering projects were keeping Hobbs & Shaw on hold (via Collider). In August 2021, producer Hiram Garcia confirmed that Dwayne Johnson will not return to the main Fast & Furious franchise after personal differences with some of his co-stars, but that, fortunately, it wouldn’t “in any way interfere with our Hobbs plans” (via Collider). With Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw returning for F9’s post-credits scene, fans can rest assured that Hobbs & Shaw 2’s main stars are still on board despite the delays that resulted from the pandemic and Dwayne Johnson’s departure from the main Fast & Furious movies.
In November 2021, Dwayne Johnson shared with Sirius XM’s The Jess Cagle Show that he had already pitched a Hobbs & Shaw 2 concept to Universal Pictures Chairwoman Donna Langley, writer Chris Morgan, and producer Hiram Garcia. Johnson explained that his idea aimed to disrupt the direction of the Fast & Furious franchise and ultimately allow Luke Hobbs to “walk off into the sunset”. Dwayne Johnson also explained that the main obstacle keeping Hobbs & Shaw 2 from advancing is the timing, as his busy schedule continues to get in the way. Indeed, The Rock has been extremely busy these last few years. His long list of projects since Hobbs & Shaw include Jungle Cruise, Red Alert, Young Rock, DC League of SuperPets, and the DCEU’s Black Adam, as well as development on projects like the upcoming Red One. Considering the role Dwayne Johnson often plays in the creative process and the exhaustive promotion period each project requires, it’s easy to see why The Rock hasn’t had time to focus on Hobbs & Shaw 2.
What’s for certain is that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson won’t reprise his role as Luke Hobbs in the main installments of the Fast Saga. While shooting The Fate of the Furious in 2016, Johnson took to social media to express his discontent with some of his co-stars, giving rise to a diplomatic yet heated back and forth between him and Vin Diesel on social media. Unfortunately, the two Fast & Furious stars didn’t come to terms, and Roman Pearce actor Tyrese Gibson added to the dispute with a more direct critique towards Johnson. Despite Luke Hobbs’ popularity since his introduction in Fast Five, Dwayne Johnson has decided to skip the series’ final three movies due to his personal differences with the cast. But as Johnson himself has clarified, his feud with his Fast & Furious co-stars thankfully won’t interfere with a Hobbs & Shaw sequel.
Taking into account the current direction of the franchise, Universal will likely focus on concluding the Fast Saga with Fast X and Fast & Furious 11. Fast X is set to release on May 2023, and Fast & Furious 11 will follow shortly afterward, given that both movies are begins filmed back-to-back. So, once the main Fast Saga ends, it would be ideal to keep the franchise alive with spinoffs, starting with the sequel to Hobbs & Shaw 2 and the promised female-led Fast & Furious spinoff. New original Fast & Furious ideas could shift attention to unexplored corners of the franchise — perhaps a Shaw family spinoff could follow Deckard Shaw’s story without having to depend on Dwayne Johnson’s tight schedule. Luckily, there’s still a long wait ahead for Hobbs & Shaw 2, but the spinoff sequel is still on track.