New details about what Fast X looked like before director Justin Lin departed have emerged, with the filmmaker wanting to deliver a huge twist for Dominic Toretto. Lin, the man who helmed five of the Fast & Furious movies, shockingly left the tenth installment just days into production in 2022. The reason for the exit was rising creative differences with franchise star/producer Vin Diesel.
It’s now been revealed that Lin had a massive, franchise-altering twist in mind for Fast X before he left. While the movie was largely rewritten following Louis Letterier’s hiring to replace him, Lin’s vision included a grand reveal that Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes was Little Brian’s father, not Dom. The detail comes from Barry Hertz’s new book “Welcome To The Family”, which has been released.
In the chapter discussing Fast X’s development and production, Hertz revealed the shocking twist plan and detailed the differences in opinion among the franchise’s key creatives:
A key source of discord centered around the script and its ending. While a cliffhanger was always part of the Fast X plan, several drafts of the screenplay also hinged on a jaw-dropping twist in which Dante is revealed to be the true father of Little Brian. Some members of the film’s team felt that the late-game turn was the perfect, if deeply dark, way for Dom to reckon with the concept he held most dear: family. The proud patriarch of the Fast clan would have to put his life on the line for a child who wasn’t biologically his own—who was in fact the offspring of his most feared nemesis. Others, including Diesel, felt differently.
Little Brian’s importance to the Fast Saga traces back to The Fate of the Furious. Dom’s former love interest (before Letty returned from the dead), Elsa Pataky’s Elena Neves, is revealed to have secretly raised the franchise lead’s young son in the years following Furious 7. And once Cipher kills Elena, Dom is left to be a very present father to his kid, whom he names Brian.
Letty, Dom, and Little Brian in The Fate of the Furious
F9 included more of Little Brian as a child, but it was Fast X where Dom and Elena’s kid came to have a bigger role. There’s an entire subplot about keeping him safe from Dante. In the finished film, Momoa’s villain wants to kill Little Brian as a way of getting revenge on Dom for killing his father in Fast Five.
Now, it becomes clear that Dante and Dom could have had very different motivations if Lin had stuck around. Rather than Diesel’s hero risking everything to protect his biological child, he’d have to do it for a kid he suddenly learns he is not related to. Once the director was gone, so too was this potential reveal, with Diesel’s preference winning out.
On one hand, it makes sense that Diesel and others would be opposed to Fast X making such a reveal. It could have hurt Dom’s story over the last few movies, with fans potentially getting upset over such a retcon. It would change the nature of Dom and Elena’s relationship, not to mention the one between “father” and “son.”
However, it’s also a twist that could have really deepened the Fast & Furious’ overarching themes. These movies are about family as much as they are cars, if not more so. While that includes biological families, mostly with the Toretto lineage, found family is also key. Roman, Tej, Ramsey, etc., are part of Dom’s family, even if they aren’t biologically related.
Making it so Dom’s own “son” is not actually his would continue that idea. He’d have a chance to choose to love the kid as his own because of the strength of their relationship, rather than whose DNA he shares. While Fast X stopped well short of delivering the twist, perhaps it could come back into play in Fast 11 if Diesel’s tune changes.
Release Date
May 19, 2023
Runtime
142 minutes
Director
Louis Leterrier