With Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw giving his killer a comedic spinoff, it’s essential the franchise eventually delivers some overdue #JusticeForHan. For a series all about driving, it’s certainly doesn’t seem like the Fast & Furious had any kind of roadmap for how it would progress. The series began with 2001’s The Fast And The Furious, a Point Break-style riff on street car racing. The movie was never in any danger of winning awards, but the glossy action combined with the movie star charisma of up and coming stars like Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Michelle Rodriguez turned it into a surprise hit.

Diesel opted out of 2 Fast 2 Furious to pursue a new franchise with xXx, leaving Paul Walker to take over with help from Tyrese Gibson’s Roman Pearce. It appeared the franchise reached the end of the road with The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift, which featured an all-new cast of characters. The story followed a teenager named Sean Boswell as he moves to Tokyo and gets involved with drift street racing. Tokyo Drift also introduced Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kung) who mentors Boswell and generally steals the movie.

While The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift is the lowest grossing of the series, it accidentally saved it by including a cameo by Vin Diesel as Dom in the final scene. Diesel wanted the rights to the Riddick franchise, so he agreed to the brief scene in exchange for them. This made fans believe he was coming back for the next movie, so producers set about reuniting the original cast for 2009’s Fast & Furious, which also brought back Kung as Han. The movie grossed twice as much as part three, and Fast Five would find the series switch from street racing to a full-on heist movie. Part five would permanently transform the series, and the next three movies would be hugely successful blockbusters.

Hobbs & Shaw acts as the first spinoff from the main series, reuniting Dwayne Johnson’s Hobbs with Jason Statham’s anti-hero Shaw. The transformation of Shaw into a heroic character is proving controversial to fans, however, who are still demanding proper justice for his cold-blooded murder of Han.

  • This Page: Justice For Han (And How Hobbs & Shaw Complicates It) Page 2: How Fast & Furious Can Solve Justice For Han

Justice For Han Explained

The timeline of #JusticeForHan is a little tricky to explain for newcomers. Han was killed in what appeared to be an accident in 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, but the character was so well liked he was brought back for 2009’s Fast & Furious - establishing the fourth movie as a prequel to the third. 2011’s Fast Five and 2013’s Fast & Furious 6 would continue this trend, only for a post-credit scene in the latter movie to catch up with Han’s Tokyo Drift death. A major retcon reveals Han was actually murdered by Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as retaliation for the Fast Family putting his brother Owen – the villain of Fast 6 – in a coma. This scene set the stage for Shaw coming after all of Dom’s gang in Furious 7.

Shaw certainly gives the crew a tough challenge in Furious 7 but he’s eventually caught and placed in prison by the end of the movie. This is where things get messy for fans. For reasons too convoluted to explain, the team is forced to work together with Shaw in The Fate Of The Furious. Despite their natural mistrust of Shaw, he ends up becoming a valuable member and even bonds with gruff federal agent Hobbs; he and brother Owen eventually save Dom’s baby from villain Cipher.

The final scene shows the gang all gathered on a roof, with Deckard seemingly being embraced as an honorary member. The fact he caused the death of Han in the previous movie is seemingly forgotten, with saving Dom’s child making up for this little misdeed. This is where #JusticeForHan began, with fans of the character and series being taken aback by the way Han’s death was being swept under the rug.

Hobbs & Shaw Makes Justice For Han Worse

Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham had strong chemistry in The Fate Of The Furious, so it was decided the long-mooted Hobbs solo adventure would pair them up. The first trailer for Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw presents it as a frothy, Tango & Cash-style buddy comedy with all of the familiar car chases and action found in the main series. It also pits the duo against a literally superhuman villain named Brixton (Idris Elba) - a reveal that edges the series ever closer to becoming a superhero franchise.

The trailer also caused fans to renew their cries of #JusticeForHan because at this point it feels like the series would rather not address it. Deckard Shaw’s popularity with audiences – and Statham’s likeability even when playing a villain – clearly took producers by surprise, so they pushed him toward becoming an anti-hero instead. Shaw received some measure of redemption for his actions in Fate of the Furious, but while Hobbs wasn’t exactly best buddies with Han, it felt odd he and the rest of Dom’s crew appeared willing to let it go. Now Hobbs & Shaw doesn’t show any signs of this lingering issue being addressed either.

Page 2 of 2: How Fast & Furious Can Solve Justice For Han

Will Hobbs & Shaw Have Justice For Han?

Hobbs & Shaw could definitely provide that much-needed Justice for Han. There’s certainly a lot of stuff the trailer isn’t revealing, like Hobbs teaming up with his four brothers for help. Despite appearing chummy by the end of The Fate Of The Furious both characters seem to dislike each again in the trailer, so maybe lingering bad feelings over Han’s death will play a part.

Of course, even if Hobbs & Shaw does address #JusticeForHan it probably won’t be the entry where Shaw has to pay for his sins. Han was friends with Dom and his crew primarily, and the new movie will be focused on setting up future spinoffs instead of paying off plot trends from the main series. At best, the movie will address it and maybe even have Shaw express regret for his actions. Given the way the series stretched out Han’s eventual death between parts four to six, it feels like Statham’s Shaw will be kept around for a couple more movies before proper penance is due. The Fast & Furious series has turned into a family soap opera on steroids, and as the MCU itself has shown, character arcs can develop across multiple movies before finally paying off.

Will Fast & Furious 9 Have Justice For Han?

If and when #JusticeForHan comes around, it will likely be part of the main series itself. The future of the franchise is currently quite fractured. Vin Diesel has declared the main story will end with Fast 9 & 10, but following Diesel and Dwayne Johnson’s falling out while working on The Fate Of The Furious, the latter won’t be a part of the ninth entry. The likely scenario, in that case, is that Hobbs and Shaw might be successful enough to earn itself a sequel with both Johnson and Statham, but the tenth movie brings back everyone for the big finale. The series has slowly built up the Shaw family, introducing Helen Mirren as matriarch Magdalene Shaw in Fast 8 and Vanessa Kirby will appear as younger sister Hattie Shaw in Hobbs & Shaw.

Given the recurring family theme in the series, maybe the last instalment will pit the Toretto and Shaw clans against one another. Deckard and Owen still have a lot of blood on their hands to answer for and no amount of family barbeques or coronas is going to wash that away. Longtime franchise writer Chris Morgan has also promised the series will deal with #JusticeForHan in the future. Some fans are still holding out hope Han somehow survived that fiery explosion, but Morgan has confirmed he’s definitely dead and bringing another dead character back – like Letty following her “demise” in Fast & Furious – would lower the stakes.

Whether its Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw or a later entry down the road, the series will circle back to #JusticeForHan. The franchise clearly listens to its own fanbase - hence the Sean Boswell cameo in Furious 7 - and they know they can’t gloss over the Han issue forever. It will likely be Fast & Furious 9 or 10 before its addressed, with Deckard possibly going back to his villainous ways before his past catches up to him. In the meantime, the series has to lay tracks setting up various spinoffs and solo movies before moving all the pieces in place. Who knows, maybe Han will get his own solo movie to fill in more of his past, which would just be icing on the cake for the fans.

More: Every Upcoming Fast & Furious Movie

  • Hobbs and Shaw Release Date: 2019-08-02 F9: The Fast Saga Release Date: 2021-06-25