Fast X: Vin Diesel Says Dwayne Johnson "Needed to Come Back" to Franchise

Fast X hit fans with a major post-credits scene surprise when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's elite lawman Luke Hobbs appeared onscreen. Johnson's involvement in the Fast & Furious franchise looked like it was all done, following the actor's public feud with Vin Diesel. While making The Fate of the Furious it became clear the two action stars weren't feuding so hard they needed to split, with Johson going off to make his Hobbs & Shaw spinoff film with Jason Statham thereafter. 

In fact, in a 2021 interview, Johnson didn't mince words, stating that  "I wish them well on Fast 9. And I wish them the best of luck on Fast 10 and Fast 11 and the rest of the Fast & Furious movies they do that will be without me."

When Fast X came out, The Rock turned around and revealed that he and Vin Diesel had in fact met privately to sort out their differences and "put all the past behind us," sometime in 2022: 

"Despite us having our differences, me and Vin, we've been like brothers for years," Johnson said in a recent social media video post. "You just think about the future, you just think about plans that are much bigger than ourselves. Those bigger plans are the North Star."

Johnson is now set to headline his own Fast & Furious Hobbs spinoff film, which will then fill-in gaps and set new road that leads into Fast X: Part 2: 

"HOBBS IS BACK. And he just got lei'd," Dwayne Johnson wrote in a social media post from Hawaii. "Luke Hobbs will be returning to the Fast & Furious franchise. Your reactions around the world to Hobbs' return in Fast X have blown us away. The next Fast & Furious film you'll see the legendary lawman in will be the HOBBS movie that will serve as a fresh, new chapter & set up for FASTX: Part II"

Vin Diesel Welcomes The Rock Back To Fast & Furious

Vin Diesel continues showing goodwill to Dwayne Johnson in public. A preview of the Fast X digital and Blu-ray release features includes a featurette where Vin Diesel address just how necessary The Rock's Luke Hobbs was to finishing the story of The Fast Saga: 

"It was no easy task, because so much has been created in this universe," Diesel says in the featurette (via ET). "To tie up all these storylines, this character needed to come back into the mythology."

Indeed, Luke Hobbs became a fan-favorite breakdown after his debut in Fast Five, which is why Diesel and Co. kept bringing The Rock back. Fans have been vocal in their displeasure at seeing the forced nature of the more recent films, which have had to keep Hobbs and Diesel's Dominic Toretto separated. It was uncomfortably conspicuous throughout The Fate of the Furious; same goes for the franchise only bringing Statham's Shaw (once its most ruthless villain) back into the fold, without Hobbs, for the final two Fast Saga films. 

It would've definitely let fans down if those awkward narrative contrivances had continued through the finale. And with Jason Momoa's Dante looking for vengeance for his father (Fast Five villain Hernan Reyes), it would've made no sense at all to leave out the man who gunned Reyes down on that bridge in Brazil.  

Fast X: Part 2 and the Hobbs movie are both in development.