Note: Spoilers for Furious 7 Are Included.
Since the arrival of Fast Five in 2011, the Fast & Furious franchise has taken it upon itself to create a shared cinematic universe of characters and worlds that could crossover and intersect at their own will. The remarkable thing about this phenomenon that Fast Five transformed the series into is that it all happened on the fly, through a sequence of events that only came together through outside circumstance and luck. Unlike so many other series’ that try to force a universe upon audiences before they’ve had the chance to become attached to it, the Fast movies used what they had already established to create a super group of loveable car junkies, and in doing so created a precedent that they could move forward with a solid foundation of characters while picking and choosing elements of the past to return to. But not all characters are created equal, and some have been left in the dust while others were made series regulars, so lets take a look at the Fast & Furious characters that time has almost forgotten (some for good reason).
10. Edwin (Ja Rule)
If Furious 7 could bring back Hector from the original movie for a small role to remind fans of the series’ roots, then why can’t Ja Rule get his time to shine again? Maybe they can get him and Ludacris to perform the title song together. And while we’re at it, lets get racing sidelines girl Monica back too just so they can reprise Edwin’s only memorable line/contribution to the series, “Nooooooo Monicaaaaaaa!”
9. Slap Jack (Michael Ealy)
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Although he started 2 Fast 2 Furious as just another annoyance for Paul Walker’s Brian O’Conner to beat in the opening race, he eventually proved to be an ally in the end when he showed up during the swarm of cars that distracted the police for the main characters. Now that Michael Ealy is a much more prolific actor than he was back in 2003, having since starred in Think Like a Man, Takers (also with Paul Walker), and the cancelled-too-soon TV show Almost Human, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to reintegrate him back into the fold. Despite being one of the weakest Fast & Furious movies, 2 Fast has already provided a healthy amount of returning characters like franchise mainstays Roman and Tej.
8. Leon (Johnny Strong)
Leon has the distinction of being the Toretto crewmember from The Fast and the Furious that nobody remembers. Who is this guy? What’s his story? Where did he go after Dom disappeared to Mexico? We hardly get to know him from his lone appearance in the first movie, so this leaves future installments with a clean slate to sketch out the character beyond the position of scene filler. Part of the reason why Fast Five is such a franchise favorite is that it brought back Vince and made him into a much more sympathetic character than the one-dimensional jerk we met in The Fast and the Furious, so Leon’s due for a return.
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7. FBI Agent Bilkins (Thom Barry)
After being introduced in part one, Bilkins returned to the series for a beefier role in 2 Fast 2 Furious as Brian’s supervisor in the undercover operation on Carter Verone. In contrast to Brian’s FBI rival Stasiak (played by Boardwalk Empire’s great Shea Whigham), Brian actually got along fairly well with Bilkins during their adventures together. Like Dwayne Johnson’s Hobbs, he also stands out against the various uptight law enforcement types in the series as one of the few who I could see helping our heroes out in a time of need.
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6. LAPD Sergeant Tanner (Ted Levine)
One of my issues with The Fast and the Furious is it’s unfocused third act that awkwardly jumps from scene to scene and then ends before the real climax should arrive: Brian’s supervisor, Sergeant Tanner, bringing the LAPD down hard on Toretto and putting Brian’s loyalties to a real test. Sadly, this opportunity never came, and thus the entire crux and tension of the undercover plot is left to fizzle out by the end. Since Furious 7 returns to Los Angeles for its big finale, I think it missed some chances to bring back smaller characters like Tanner for cameos, especially since every movie automatically gets better with a little Ted Levine.
5. Kamata (Sonny Chiba)
He’s played by martial artist extraordinaire Sonny Chiba. There’s really no other reason to bring him back besides that fact, but isn’t that one a big enough reason on its own?
4. Suki (Devon Aoki)
Okay look, real talk for a second: Letty had been considered a vital part of the franchise since she first appeared in the original movie, but she never really did much of note besides look tough and be Dom’s girlfriend. If we’re looking at these first two movies objectively, Suki gets more to say and do in 2 Fast than Letty did in the previous entry, and she’s already a friend with both Tej and Brian before the movie starts. Her pink Honda is among the more iconic franchise cars, the groundwork is already laid for her to stand on should she come back, and it’s not like Devon Aoki’s been keeping steady with the acting career since her 15 minutes of fame in the mid-2000s.
3. All-Villain Super Team
Part of the funny/sad/strange irony of the Fast franchise’s position as a shared cinematic universe (like The Avengers…but with cars) is that it basically stumbled into one by accident and yet its already done better than most of the efforts that try to create a universe from the start. For instance, with Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man series left high and dry after Marvel brought Spider-Man into the Avengers mold, this leaves the Sinister Six spinoff in a precarious position. But who says that had to be first villain team-up movie (besides Suicide Squad)? With seven movies under their belt and only two villains unquestionably dead (#1’s Johnny Tran and #5’s Hernan Reyes), the Fast series is already in a good position to unite the scorned enemies of the past into one super group. Note: I’ve only seen Furious 7 once so I’m hazy on the specifics, but it looked like Owen Shaw possibly survived his fall from the plane in number six, and a Shaw brother team-up would be a good center for this gang of otherwise interchangeable thugs.
2. Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes)
Technically she already came back to the series for her cameo in the surprising end-credits scene of Fast Five, but the next two movies never followed through on her full return. Quite frankly Monica would have been a significantly better partner for Hobbs instead of the wooden Gina Carano in Fast and Furious 6, and even the otherwise bland Elsa Pataky in Furious 7. Eva Mendes could fit well into the shifting group dynamic of the current movies, and with both Giselle and (likely) Mia out of the picture now, the series could use another shot of estrogen to balance out the uninhibited raging testosterone of everyone else.
1. Sean Boswell (Lucas Black)
Poor Sean. After going through an arc that forced him to face both the consequences of his actions and the death of his friend Han, the ending of Tokyo Drift promised that he would be greeted into Dom’s family of misfits and criminals. However, Furious 7 temporarily pushed that aside for just a fleeting cameo, and since the latest in the franchise continues with Dom and the crew going out for revenge on Han’s behalf, it feels like a huge missed opportunity to not give Sean a sizable part in the group and share a personal motivation in this mission to take down Deckard Shaw. Who cares if he looks even less like a teenager now than he already did in Tokyo Drift; in the messed-up chronology of this story these are things that can be forgiven, and welcoming Sean into the family would be a further step in convincing stubborn fans that Tokyo Drift is more than just a forgettable footnote in the Fast series’ journey to top dog status in Hollywood.
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