The Fast & Furious movies are all about family – both on and off screen – and nobody is more loyal to his Fast family than Vin Diesel. The actor emphasizes that loyalty in a new Instagram post, revealing that the original script for Fast X, the tenth installment in the series, initially didn’t make room for Jordana Brewster’s Mia Toretto. Mia, who first appeared in the 2001 franchise launch The Fast and the Furious, is the sister of Diesel’s franchise patriarch Dom Toretto and the wife of his ride-or-die sidekick Brian O’Conner, played by the late Paul Walker.
“I was so disappointed I couldn’t see how to move on,” Diesel writes, crediting Brewster’s character with fostering the “brotherhood” between Dom and Brian. It turned out that the casting vote was cast by the actor’s daughter, Hania, who, according to Diesel, told director Justin Lin, “‘No Mia, no Fast 10!'” Luckily, Lin and the studio quickly realized that the Fast -Father (and daughter) knows best and put Brewster back in the driver’s seat of Fast X, which has just started filming and is slated to hit theaters on April 7, 2023.
In his Instagram post, Diesel thanked franchise fans for letting Universal know how much they appreciate seeing the whole family with each new adventure. “I didn’t want to do another fast unless Brian was back in Four… [and] I don’t need to remind you of the petitions you sent to the studio for Letty’s return at the end of Five,” he writes.
The actor also couldn’t help but pay another tribute to Walker, whom he dubbed Pablo, revealing, “Not a day goes by that I don’t want to turn back time [and] talk Pablo out of returning to LA this Thanksgiving weekend.” (Walker died in a car accident on November 30, 2013 during production of Furious 7. His character lives on in the Fast-Verse.)
“Any fast film I do has to always honor my brother Pablo at its core,” Diesel continues. “In the real world I’ll always take care of his family because in the real world he’s family.” And the family that rides together stays together.
Fast X Speeds to theaters April 7, 2023.