The Fast and Furious franchise is shifting gears with a new screenwriter to pen the upcoming Fast and Furious 9. According to The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriter Daniel Casey has been tapped to write the upcoming instalment of the blockbuster series spanning nearly 18 years (yeah, believe it or not).
Chris Morgan who has been penning the series since Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift has spent 12 years with the franchise but will not be exiting the series as he has been tasked to write the Hobbs and Shaw spin-off (god, I hope that’s not what it’s called) starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham.
Casey wrote the screenplay for the upcoming science fiction film Kin starring James Franco, having experience in the field of sci-fiction but it’s unclear how it would translate here. Then again, the Fast and Furious franchise might as well be a superhero franchise with all its absurd stunts and action sequences. Maybe Casey would finally be the one to take them to Saturn this time around.
Fast 9 is also set to be directed by their most frequent director Justin Lin. Lin has directed the most critically acclaimed film in the franchise, Fast 5 way back in 2011 and has also directed their most critically panned, Fast and Furious ( or Fast and Furious 4, it’s hard to tell at this point) in 2009.
The Fast and Furious franchise has never been known for its writing except maybe Vin Diesel’s regurgitation of ‘family’ so this change would probably fly over the heads of their demographic. However, this change could serve to switch things up for the franchise. The series is no doubt known for its action sequences but perhaps better writing would propel its status to more than just “turn your brain off” action.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
