Why Did Dwayne Johnson Say He Would Never Return to the Fast and Furious Series before Making Surprise Comeback to the $6.6 Billion Franchise?

As the Fast and Furious franchise prepares to deliver its final two installments, the presence of Dwayne Johnson is paramount. Johnson was first featured in the fifth installment of the film, Fast 5. However, due to his falling out with Vin Diesel, Johnson once vowed to never return to the film franchise. The WWE icon-turned-Hollywood megastar was last seen in the film series in its eighth installment, The Fate of the Furious.

The Fast & Furious film series has two more parts before they ride off into the sunset. Surprisingly, TheWrap recently reported that Dwayne Johnson has finally returned to the franchise, appearing in the post-credit scene of Fast X.

The upcoming film is set to be released on May 19th of this month. While Johnson’s return is a big deal, let’s look at why he left the franchise in the first place. 

Why did Dwayne Johnson say he would never return to the Fast and Furious franchise?

The cracks in the relationship between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel began to show on the set of the Fate of The Furious. Vin Diesel arriving late on the movie set did not sit well with the Red Notice actor.

In a now-deleted post, Johnson took to social media and fired shots at his male co-actors for conducting themselves unprofessionally, alluding to Vin Diesel. Subsequently, Johnson left the franchise after the film’s release. 

In his since-deleted Facebook post, Johnson referred to his male co-stars as “Candyas*es” who don’t conduct themselves as “stand-up men and true professionals”.

“Some conduct themselves as stand-up men and true professionals, while others don’t. The ones that don’t are too chicken shit to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses.”

In 2021, Vin Diesel took to Instagram and implored Dwayne Johnson to return to the franchise to finish the story. Diesel called Johnson his “little brother” and urged him to return for the sake of Paul Walker. In addition, he also involved his kids, who called Johnson their uncle. However, Johnson snubbed Vin Diesel’s public plea. 

The 51-year-old Hollywood icon even told CNN that he had no intentions to return to the Fast & Furious franchise. According to him, he told Vin Diesel “Directly” that he would never return to the franchise. Johnson cited that he was firm yet cordial with Vin Diesel.

Although Johnson stated that he would continue to root for the franchise, he did not appreciate Vin Diesel publicly involving Paul Walker and his children in the post. Johnson called it an “example” of Vin Diesel’s “manipulation”.

“I told [Diesel] directly that I would not be returning to the franchise. I was firm yet cordial with my words and said that I would always be supportive of the cast and always root for the franchise to be successful, but that there was no chance I would return.” Johnson continued, “Vin’s recent public post was an example of his manipulation. I didn’t like that he brought up his children in the post, as well as Paul Walker’s death. Leave them out of it.”

With Dwayne Johnson’s return to the franchise, it’s conspicuous that his relationship with Vin Deisel has thawed over time. 

After leaving the main Fast and Furious franchise, Dwayne Johnson played the lead role in the F&F spinoff 

In 2019, Dwayne Johnson worked with other bankable names in Hollywood such as Jason Statham and Idris Elba in the spinoff, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw.

The film revolves around US agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) joining forces with his old foe Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) and fighting against a genetically enhanced supervillain. 

The film became 2019’s eleventh-highest-grossing film, earning a whopping $760 million worldwide. The budget for the film was $200 million. Dwayne Johnson hit a massive payday, taking home $20 million. 

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