I love that the behind-the-scenes melodrama of the Fast & Furious franchise is rivaling the on-screen drama of the movies. During production on The Fate of the Furious, we learned that star Vin Diesel and co-star Dwayne Johnson, had a falling out to the point where they wouldn’t even share the same frame. Then, when news broke of Fast & Furious 9 being delayed to 2020 to make room for the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff starring Johnson and Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson got in on the action by lashing out at Johnson on Instagram. Diesel, never one to keep quiet, piped up on social media saying that the franchise needed “maintenance” and that he would stay positive.

Now the latest development is Johnson taking to Instagram to promote the Hobbs/Shaw spinoff, writing:

Pumped to expand and build out the FAST & FURIOUS universe in a cool, exciting way with our @sevenbucksprod, writer/producer Chris Morgan, producer Hiram Garcia and lead producer and my bigger twin, Neil Moritz. Thank you UNIVERSAL STUDIOS for being tremendous partners who see the big picture and for coming to us years ago with this spinoff idea. Huge shout to my brother, Jason Statham for the trust and wanting to create and deliver something fresh and bad ass for the fans. I have a tremendous amount of respect for this franchise that I’ve enjoyed droppin’ blood and sweat in over the years and my vision is to create greater opportunities for not only my fellow FF cast mates, but for other amazing actors as well who want to be a part of something new and cool.

I want to use my spinoff platform to create new characters that fans will ultimately love to have fun with in multiple chapters and platforms. Film, TV, Digital, Virtual Reality etc.. the more opportunities we can create the better for the fans.

Smart business. Let’s have some FUN and to quote, Hobbs the boss, if you don’t like it, we’re happy to beat that ass like a Cherokee drum.

He then added in the hashtags, “#CandyAssesNeedNotApply”. It’s clear that the Fast & Furious franchise has completely split with the spinoff not being a spinoff so much as it’s a lifeboat. It’s clear there was no way Johnson would do another movie with Diesel, and Universal didn’t want to lose Johnson. The solution was to simply give Johnson (and Statham) their own series, and now Johnson is using that as an open door to say that any other Fast & Furious actors who want to join him are more than welcome to do so.

So Diesel will keep moving forward with the Fast & Furious franchise, and Johnson gets a new franchise that he’ll lead with Statham. It should be interesting to see who comes out on top.

The Hobbs/Shaw spinoff opens July 26, 2019. Fast & Furious 9 opens April 10, 2020.