You've been watching the 'Fast and Furious' movies all wrong — here's the right order
- There are currently 10 films in the "Fast & Furious" saga. You shouldn't watch them in release order.
- The best way to watch is 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 3, 7, 8, "Hobbs and Shaw," and "F9."
If you're doing a giant binge-watch of the "Fast and Furious" movies before May's "Fast X," make sure you're watching them the correct way.
A reboot to the series that started with the fourth movie altered the order in which fans should watch the franchise if they're hoping to view them in chronological order. An additional credits scene after the sixth movie flipped the series on its head.
Here's the correct order you should watch the films before seeing "Fast X":
"The Fast and the Furious" (2001)
"2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003)
"Fast & Furious" (2009) [the fourth film]
"Fast Five" (2011)
"Fast & Furious 6" (2013)
"The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" (2006)
"Furious 7" (2015)
"The Fate of the Furious" (2017)
"Hobbs & Shaw" (2019)
"F9" (2021)
Why should I watch the movies in this order?
The ending of the third film in the franchise, "Tokyo Drift," resulted in Han's death after his car was hit by a Mercedes. When Han showed up alive and well in the franchise's next movie, "Fast & Furious," the death scene was confusing to many, suggesting that "Tokyo Drift" took place after the movie.
The timeline became more clear after Han appeared in the next two movies. At the end of "Fast & Furious 6" Han tells the group he's going to head to Tokyo, a place he previously planned on visiting with his girlfriend Gisele (Gal Gadot) before she was killed.
The entire timeline of the third movie, "Tokyo Drift," takes place years later after the sixth "Fast and Furious" movie. It was revealed during a credits scene after "Fast & Furious 6" that Deckard Shaw headed to Tokyo to hunt down Han for putting his younger brother into a coma. Shaw was the driver behind the wheel of the Mercedes.
The very end of "Tokyo Drift" where Dom visits Tokyo then takes place in "Furious 7." We see Dom retrieve the necklace he gave to Letty from Sean (Lucas Black). If it sounds confusing, you can watch Han's death scene from the end of "Tokyo Drift" merged with the "Fast 6" scene here.
But there's more!
If you've only watched the "Fast and Furious" movies, you've missed out on about another half hour of the franchise. There are also two official "Fast" shorts, one of which was directed by Vin Diesel himself. There's also another movie that's considered the ultimate prequel to the entire franchise.
What are the two "Fast and Furious" shorts?
"The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious"
As the title suggests, the short is a prelude to "2 Fast 2 Furious" which shows how Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) winds up in Miami in the second film. He drives cross country making cash by street racing while evading cops after letting Dominic go at the end of "The Fast and the Furious."
The short contains no dialogue, but if you're wondering how Brian wound up with the Nissan Skyline he has at the start of the "Fast and Furious" sequel, the six-minute video will show you exactly how it all happened. If you're a "Friday Night Lights" fan, Minka Kelly pops up in a small role as well.
"Los Bandoleros"
Spanish for "The Outlaws," "Los Bandoleros" was written and directed by Vin Diesel himself. It's a precursor to the fourth "Fast and Furious" film and sets up the oil heist at the film's start. The 20-minute prologue feels like two mini episodes. The first half shows Dom hiding out with family in the Dominican Republic while Han (Sung Kang), from "Tokyo Drift," arrives and notes that he's never been to Japan at that point. He says he met Dom in Mexico so it's clear this movie takes place a bit in the past.
There's a lot of talk about oil being scarce and expensive. Dom helps break Leo from prison who later becomes a part of the team in subsequent movies.
The latter half of the short focuses on Dom's relationship with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) after she turns up in the DR. The two road trip out to a beach where they end up spending a lot of time in a canoe paddling, making out, lying around, falling out of the canoe, and making out some more. She also says she wants to join in on whatever adventure Dom's planning.
"Los Bandoleros" came as a bonus on the Blu-ray and special edition DVD of 2009's "Fast and the Furious." The short film's editor Sonia Gonzalez-Martinez put the entire short film on Vimeo. You can view it here.
The unofficial prequel movie
"Better Luck Tomorrow"
If you really want to go down the "Fast and Furious" rabbit hole, there's one more movie you should check out: 2003's indie film "Better Luck Tomorrow." The movie is from "Tokyo Drift" director Justin Lin.
While its not officially affiliated with the "Fast and Furious" franchise, its widely considered to be a prequel story for Han (Sung Kang), who's introduced in "Tokyo Drift." Why? Well, because "Better Luck Tomorrow" also stars Sung Kang as a character named Han during his high school years.
Plus, both Lin and Kang have confirmed the character is the same across both series.
"Yes, it is. Justin and I always … He wanted to keep the anthology going," Kang told Crave. "He was always wondering where the characters go after high school. The Daric Loo character actually went into his film Annapolis, and then in Tokyo Drift we have Virgil too from 'Better Luck Tomorrow' as well."
Lin also confirmed it in an interview with ComingSoon.net saying its been a fun inside joke and discusses it in the "Fast" commentaries.
Here's the full order you should watch the series in:
"Better Luck Tomorrow" (2003)
"The Fast and the Furious" (2001)
"The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious"
"2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003)
"Los Bandoleros" (2009)
"Fast & Furious" (2009) [the fourth film]
"Fast Five" (2011)
"Fast & Furious 6" (2013)
"The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" (2006)
"Furious 7" (2015)
"The Fate of the Furious" (2017)
"Hobbs & Shaw" (2019)
"F9" (2021)
Franchise director Justin Lin confirms to Insider that 'F9' takes place after 'Hobbs & Shaw'
While speaking about "F9," Lin told Insider that the latest film in the franchise takes place after the 2019 spinoff with a succinct, "Yes."
This makes sense since Queenie (Helen Mirren) is seen after she's broken out of jail in "Hobbs & Shaw."
If you're thinking this should be obvious, remember there was a time where "Fast 9" was originally supposed to come out in 2019, before "Hobbs & Shaw," before the film was delayed.
The main "Fast and the Furious" saga is set to be 11 movies. "Fast X" is in theaters on May 19, 2023.