One of Hollywood’s most successful film franchises is officially heading to the small screen, with a new report that “The Fast and the Furious” will be arriving on television in the form of a new series.
Deadline was the first to report that a “Fast & Furious” series that had been announced earlier this year has officially been given the green light by NBCUniversal-owned streamer Peacock.
$7 Billion & Counting
As Deadline points out, the Vin Diesel-starring franchise now dubbed the “Fast Saga” has raked in a staggering $7 billion at the box office over the past quarter-century.
The new series will be written by Mike Daniels and Wolfe Coleman, who will also be co-showrunners on the as-yet-untitled series (although it’s a safe bet the title will containt either “fast” or “furious”).
Franchise star Diesel will be an executive producer, but there’s no word yet whether his involvement in the series will extend to bringing Dom Toretto to the series.
‘We Are Very Precious About These Movies’
News of a “Fast & Furious” TV series first emerged at the NBCUniversal upfront back in May, with Diesel himself making the announcement.
“As you all know, we are very precious about these movies but over the last decade, we’ve realized that the fans have wanted more, they wanted us to expand the legacy characters, their stories,” said Diesel at the time, via Deadline.
“And for the last decade, the desire has been for us to enter the TV space,” he continued.
“That’s when I knew that the integrity of the characters, the international appeal, what makes us all feel like family will be protected in the TV space,” Diesel added.
First Comes ‘Fast 11’
Back in August, Diesel appeared at a 25th anniversary screening of the original “The Fast and the Furious,” where he was asked about the status of the upcoming 11th and final film in the series, and offered a hopeful update.
“We start filming in December,” Diesel told Variety at the time.
However, he also offered a caveat about filming on “Fast Forever” beginning in December, admitting there was a contingency.
“If I can make good on the requests from the studio,” he added.
As he explained, getting to that point had been a bumpy ride.
“I’m in a good place, though. I had to go through four sets of writers, four years of development, to get to something that I felt would be worthy of a finale. And when I read the script a couple of weeks ago, [I cried],” he shared.
When asked “Is it really the finale?” Diesel insisted this would be the franchise swan song.
All About Integrity
During that event, he was asked to reveal the “secret sauce” that had made the franchise to enduringly popular.
“Integrity,” he shared.
“Fighting when no one sees,” he added. “Being willing to go against the studio to fight for integrity. Not just rolling off and doing a movie when the first script comes in.” From there, he went on to highlight the importance of taking the production process seriously, noting that “because you’re making a movie for people that have adopted the concept of family.”
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‘Fast & Furious’ Series Officially Greenlit for Peacock