(SeaPRwire) – “For more than 100 years, there’s one place where we all came together to be entertained, to escape, to go somewhere new: the movies.” These insightful words from Vin Diesel reminded fans of what a true movie star embodies in 2021, a year when the future of cinema itself was uncertain. (They also inspired numerous memes and an SNL parody.)
But at NBCU’s Upfronts event, Vin Diesel shared a different perspective when he announced that the Fast and Furious franchise, now spanning over 10 films, will significantly expand into television. While this development is certainly exciting, it raises questions about whether it might come at the expense of, as he put it, “the movies.”
During Peacock’s upcoming programming showcase, Vin Diesel appeared to confirm that four new Fast and Furious TV series are in development, though only one has reached active production. “Over the past decade, we’ve recognized that fans have wanted more,” Diesel stated, according to Variety. “They’ve wanted us to explore the legacy characters and their stories further. For years, the desire has been for us to enter the television space… And I waited until the timing was right… It became right when Donna Langley took charge, because then I knew the integrity of the characters, the international appeal, and the sense of family that unites us would be preserved in television.”
It’s been some time since fans had a major gathering in theaters. Fast X premiered in 2023, and even on its red carpet premiere, Vin Diesel promoted Fast Forever, the eleventh installment in the series, hinting that Fast X could mark the beginning of a trilogy. At CinemaCon 2023, he revealed the next film would debut in 2025, but delays occurred, with industry strikes cited as the primary cause.
In 2024, director Louis Leterrier announced that filming would commence that fall, but those plans fell through as well. Currently, Fast Forever is scheduled for release on March 17, 2028, with the most recent update coming just months ago—when the project welcomed a new screenwriter in March 2026.
Could this shift to television ultimately replace the movie entirely? Speculation suggests that budget constraints may be hindering Fast Forever, and producing TV content is generally more cost-effective than filmmaking. This isn’t without precedent—one of the biggest cinematic franchises of all time, Star Wars, has taken this exact route. Similar to Star Wars prior to 2019, the only current Fast and Furious TV offering is an animated children’s series, Fast & Furious Spy Racers, which aired on Netflix for six seasons between 2019 and 2021.
Just as Star Wars introduced The Mandalorian, these upcoming shows could help bridge the gap until the franchise returns to theaters. If executed effectively, they might also expand the saga in fresh directions that fans will embrace.
Fast Forever is set to premiere in theaters on March 17, 2028.
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