Summary

• The Fast Saga evolved from car culture crime thrillers to global action blockbusters over 11 films.
• The franchise's success came from abandoning street racing for government organizations and heists.
• The key theme of family ties the Fast & Furious movies together, creating something special for viewers who have stuck with the franchise since the beginning.

Over the last two decades, the Fast and Furious franchise has taken over Hollywood with several blockbuster movies, but if the Fast Saga hadn't scraped the original premise of the franchise, they might not have reached 11 successful movies.

In 2001, when The Fast and the Furious launched the franchise, no one could have predicted the incredible way the Fast Saga would evolve from the first movie to the final film. The most obvious difference from the first Fast and Furious movie to the recent films is the scale of jam-packed action sequences. In order to become a lasting franchise, the Fast Saga had to figure out what worked with audiences and a connection to Dom Toretto's "family" may have been the magic formula.

Fast & Furious Abandoned Its Original Premise Of The Franchise

The first Fast and Furious movie, The Fast and the Furious, premiered in 2001 and was a film about an undercover cop (Paul Walker) who infiltrates an underground street racing scene, only to find that he completely connected with its leader (Vin Diesel). It was a pure car-culture film that has been referred to as Point Break for the 2000s - a crime thriller with some sports heists to spice it up.

While the first sequel to the franchise, 2 Fast 2 Furious, tried to recreate the same magic, but in a different location, without Vin Diesel's character, Dom Toretto, the film didn't have the same impact on audiences.

"The irony is, I asked Universal to not make a sequel," Vin Diesel revealed in a 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly.

"I felt they would compromise the ability for it to be a classic."

"Sometimes you have to say no and stand for the integrity you hope to manifest in a film," Vin added. "Saying no in that that moment of my life might have understandably been scary, and yet, it's what allowed for everyone to commit wholeheartedly. Taking a pause is necessary when you want to really think about where you want to take something."

However, after the massive success of The Fast and the Furious, Universal clearly had a different idea for the direction they wanted to take the Fast Saga. While Vin saw it best to be a single, classic street race film, it was clear with a series of films attached to the first, this franchise had the potential to become so much more.

In order to become the global sensation that the franchise is today, the Fast Saga had to make a decision to distance the films from the car culture that birthed them. The franchise had to transform Dom Toretto and his "family" into invincible, death-defying daredevils who complete impossible missions all over the world.

Before being called The Fast and the Furious, the original screenplay for the first movie was titled Redline. Another early title for the movie was Racer X.

Why Fast & Furious Could No Longer Be Just About Cars

Following the box office failure of the third Fast & Furious movie, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, it was clear that a film about street racing alone was not going to be enough for a lasting franchise. The Fast Saga had to up the ante and increase the stakes, and they did just that with the fourth installment, Fast & Furious. For fans, 2009's Fast & Furious marks the change in direction for the franchise.

In order to gain momentum as a true blockbuster franchise, the Fast Saga replaced street level racing with shady government organizations and international heists. While the Fast & Furious franchise continued using cars as notable parts of the movies, they were no longer the main focus, but rather a means to create the incredible stunts for the Fast & Furious characters.

"It totally started in a different place," Vin Diesel explained to Entertainment Weekly, about the evolution of Fast & Furious. "It started very humble, and that's something I'm grateful for, that we were able to start from humble beginnings so that you could really connect with these characters, without all the spectacle."

"The spectacle came as the movies needed to start one-upping themselves."

It's true that with each new Fast & Furious film, the stunts and action sequences do become more and more unbelievable, to where some critics have referred to the characters as "superheros."

From the fourth movie onward, once the franchise abandoned the street racing, car-culture premise, Dominic Toretto's family became somehow invincible and undefeatable. They have all survived the unthinkable, including gigantic explosions, death-defying stunts and car crashes. Some members of Dominic Toretto's family even cheat death by miraculously "coming back to life."

How Fast & Furious' Family Storyline Fueled The Franchise's Success

While the fast cars and big action sequences make up a huge portion of the Fast & Furious franchise, fans of the saga know the main theme to the series of movies is family. Giving the audience something they could latch on to and see develop from movie to movie was the key to making the Fast & Furious movies a success.

With the first film introducing the audience to Dom, as well as Paul Walker's character, Brian O'Conner, Michelle Rodriguez's, Letty, and Jordana Brewster's character, Mia Toretto, it set the stage for where the franchise could take things. However, with the second film, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Brian was the only returning character and the franchise attempted to use Tyrese Gibson's character, Roman Pearce, in place of Vin's Dom. And with Tokyo Drift, Dom's family was completely absent.

The first sequels did not have the same grab on audiences as the Fast & Furious movies that brought all the characters back together. Fast & Furious marked the turning point for the franchise not only because it turned its focus on extreme action scenes and a heavier mission, but because it brought Dom's family all back together.

The Fast Saga continued this theme of the importance of family throughout the rest of the franchise. And though there were times that Dom Toretto welcomed new people into his family, that core group remained the sole focus of importance for the films.

The mention of family in The Fast & Furious franchise has become a growing meme over the internet, as it has become an obvious theme. In case you were wondering, the word “family” is said 56 times in Fast X, roughly every 2.5 minutes.

Fast X: Part 2 is set to be the final film in the franchise and will end in a huge way. In addition to having to wrap up all the major cliffhangers from Fast X, the Fast & Furious finale is expected to find its way back to the franchise's roots and bring the importance of family to the forefront.

In an Instagram post to Fast & Furious fans, Vin Diesel addressed the grand finale, writing, "Thank you for being the backbone of this global saga that because of you, transcends the screen. This grand finale is not just an ending; it’s a celebration of the incredible family we’ve built together."