Given the consistent success of the Fast & Furious movies, how do you keep the franchise motoring while avoiding more of the bubbling feuds between its ego-loaded cast? Universal's answer is to turn to its DreamWorks Animation Television partners and develop an animated series based on the movies for Netflix.
In the series, teenager Tony Toretto follows in the footsteps of his cousin Dom (Vin Diesel's Fast character) when he and his friends are recruited by a government agency to infiltrate an elite racing league serving as a front for a nefarious crime organization bent on world domination.
This, of course, means that Diesel and anyone else from the movies won't need to take part, and if they do, it can be safely from the confines of a voice booth, where they don't even have to meet. DreamWorks TV veterans Tim Hedrick and Bret Haaland will be running the show, with Diesel, Neal Moritz and Chris Morgan as executive producers. There's no set date for the series to launch just yet. Mostly because they actually have to make the thing first.
As for the film franchise, the first spin-off, focusing on Dwayne Johnson's Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw, is due next year. The next main film is scheduled for April 2020.
Keep up to date with all the latest movie news, click here to subscribe to Empire and have the latest issue delivered to your door every month.