Warning: This post contains MAJOR spoilers for Fast XFast X changed up the Fast and Furious timeline again, and here’s a complete breakdown of the franchise’s events, including F9‘s flashbacks and retcons. Universal launched the Fast & Furious franchise in 2001 with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker starring a not-so-subtle Point Break homage but with street racing. No one expected that the small movie would pave the way for one of the world’s biggest movie franchises, but that is exactly what happened.
While F9 slots easily into the Fast & Furious timeline, the movie does include events and flashbacks that provide new insights into this world. This includes the long-awaited origin of Dom – which also explains the retcon that he had a brother named Jakob Toretto (John Cena) – and the explanation for how Han survived Deckard Shaw’s (Jason Statham) attempt to kill him. With these new major pieces of information, here’s a breakdown of the complete Fast and Furious timeline.
The Fast And Furious Chronological Movie Order
The success of The Fast and The Furious allowed Paul Walker’s Brian O’Connor to star in a spinoff/sequel, with the series going in a new direction for the third movie, Tokyo Drift, which included a cameo by Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto at the end. It wasn’t until the fourth installment of the franchise that Diesel and Walker shared the screen again. Fast & Furious really took off, though, with Fast Five and the addition of Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs.
While some might think that the Fast & Furious timeline is relatively straightforward, the death of Han Lue (Sung Kang) in Tokyo Drift and the desire to bring the breakout character back resulted in some changes. The third film in the franchise was retconned to take place between Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7. This means that the official chronological viewing order for Fast & Furious is as follows:
- The Fast and the Furious (2001)
- 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
- Fast & Furious (2009)
- Fast Five (2011)
- Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
- The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
- Furious 7 (2015)
- The Fate of the Furious (2017)
- Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
- F9 (2021)
- Fast X (2023)
Dom Toretto’s Origin (F9)
Dom’s backstory was teased in past Fast & Furious movies, but F9 utilizes flashbacks to show one of the most significant days of his life. The movie goes back to 1989 to show what would be the final race for Jack Toretto, Dom’s father. The Toretto family was in serious debt so Jack asked Jakob to help him rig the car so they could throw the race and lose. The modification made resulted in Jack not being able to keep control of his car, and he died when the plan went awry.
This resulted in Dom attacking the other driver and nearly killing him, which was teased in past movies, too. Dom then spent some time in jail and figured out that Jakob had something to do with the car’s malfunction. Once he was free, he challenged Jakob to a race with the stipulation that his brother could never come back home if he lost. Dom won and pushed his little brother away and toward a life of crime and spies.
The Fast & The Furious
The Fast and The Furious is the first movie in the franchise and the first in terms of the Fast and Furious timeline. The movie sees Brian O’Connor working as an undercover cop trying to bust a group of racing thieves. This leads him to meet Dom, his sister Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), Dom’s girlfriend Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), and the rest of their team. Brian begins working for Dom to repay him with a 10-second car. He refuses to believe that Dom and his crew are the criminals he’s looking for but eventually comes to that conclusion. Brian blows his cover to save Vince’s (Matt Schulze) life and then gives Dom the keys to his car so he can escape.
2 Fast 2 Furious
2 Fast 2 Furious is the second film in the franchise and takes place a few years after The Fast and The Furious. The movie continues Brian’s story as he is now an ex-cop living in Miami, Florida. He’s approached by a former colleague to take down a local drug lord. Brian puts together a team, which includes franchise stalwarts Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej Parker (Ludacris). It also features the debut of Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes), who has a small role to play in the future.
Fast and Furious
Fast & Furious is the fourth film in the franchise but moves up to third in the Fast and Furious timeline due to Tokyo Drift‘s new position in the timeline. The movie brings Brian and Dom together again after the death of Letty. On his own, Dom searches for answers to Letty’s death and who is responsible, while Brian is now working for the FBI and is revealed to have been using Letty to infiltrate Arturo Braga’s drug cartel. After competing against each other through most of the film, Brian and Dom eventually work together to take down Braga.
Fast & Furious takes place a few years after 2 Fast 2 Furious and includes the debut of Gisele (Gal Gadot), Stasiak (Shea Whigham), Tego (Tego Calderon), and Don (Don Omar). Han also has a small role at the beginning and end as part of Dom’s crew.
Fast Five
Fast Five picks up immediately after the events of Fast & Furious, as the movie begins with Han, Brian, and Mia hijacking the prison transport bus Dom is on. After a few months on the run, Brian and Dom’s lives cross paths again while doing a heist for some extra cash. This is the first appearance of Hobbs, who is tasked with tracking down the fugitives.
Brian and Dom recruit Gisele, Han, Roman, Tej, Tego, and Don to come to Brazil to pull off a massive heist. They successfully steal $100 million by dragging a vault full of money through the streets of Brazil and swapping the vault during a small window. Fast Five features the return and death of Vince, the introduction of Elena (Elsa Pataky), and a post-credits cameo by Monica Fuentes at the end revealing Letty is alive.
Dante Reyes Origin (Fast X)
Fast X added a massive flashback to open the movie, and it showed the origin of the new villain for the series. Jason Momoa joined the franchise as Dante Reyes, the son of the drug lord from Fast Five, Hernan Reyes. It showed the inspired vault theft by Dom and Brian in that movie, which led to the death of Hernan. However, it also intercut several scenes into this as Dante was there the entire time. He was also in one of the cars that was firing at Dom in the chase. It all ended with Dante’s car being blown off a bridge and him almost dying as his father did die at the hands of Hobbs, leading Dante on his revenge-fueled mission.
Fast & Furious 6
Fast & Furious 6 takes place a few months or so after Fast Five since Mia and Brian’s baby has been born. The movie sees Hobbs recruit Dom to take down Owen Shaw as Letty is now working for him. Dom convinces Brian and most of Fast Five‘s team members to take on this mission, as Hobbs will get them full pardons if they’re successful. Letty lost her memory in the accident that was supposed to kill her, with Owen Shaw finding her in that state days later.
Fast & Furious 6 marquee airplane runway action scene is both epic and heartbreaking, with Gisele sacrificing herself to save Han and falling to her death. Dom and Elena’s romance ends by the end so he can be with Letty again. The very end of the movie crosses the Fast and Furious timeline between Tokyo Drift and Furious 7 by showing Han’s death at the hands of Deckard Shaw.
The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift
The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift is the third film released in the Fast and Furious timeline, but its placement in the timeline is seventh. The movie primarily follows Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) as he is sent to Tokyo to live with his dad after getting into more trouble with racing stateside. He becomes obsessed with the drifting scene in Tokyo and begins working for Han after he wrecks his car.
Han’s story retroactively sees him working for a crime boss, despite having millions of dollars in the bank, and making the most of Tokyo as he mourns Gisele’s death. Han is then killed in a car crash, with later movies revealing this was Deckard Shaw’s doing as a means to get revenge on Dom’s team for nearly killing Owen. While Sean then bests the Drift King in Han’s memory, the truth is that Han was still alive.
Han Fakes His Death (F9)
F9 added a second retcon to Han’s original death scene in Tokyo Drift by revealing that he didn’t actually die in the Fast and Furious timeline. The movie is vague with the details of how exactly he got out of the burning upside-down car before it explodes, but Han attributes it to Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell). It turns out Mr. Nobody wanted Han to work for him and managed to fake his death at Deckard Shaw’s hand. The best explanation given so far is that Mr. Nobody can make it look very real, as Fast & Furious 9 shows Han, alive, disappearing from the car as Shaw’s leg swings across the frame.
Furious 7
The events of Furious 7 overlap with Tokyo Drift a bit in the Fast and Furious timeline. Dom is trying to help Letty remember her past life, while Brian is trying to adjust to the domestic lifestyle with Mia as they raise their son and are expecting another. Deckard Shaw begins attacking Dom and his crew, though, and times a bomb to explode on the Torettos’ front porch right after he killed Han. The death of Han drives Han and his team to hunt down Shaw and prevent him from stealing God’s Eye. Furious 7 includes the debut of Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Mr. Nobody, as well as a cameo from Sean Boswell to further mix the Tokyo Drift timeline with this movie’s events.
The Fate Of The Furious
The Fate of the Furious is the eighth film in the Fast and Furious timeline and picks up only a few months after Furious 7. The movie sees Cipher (Charlize Theron) manipulate Dom to turn his back on his team to protect the secret son he had with Elena, who had to be conceived between Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6. This results in Mr. Nobody assembling Hobbs, Deckard Shaw, Letty, Tej, Ramsey, and Roman to work together to stop him. Elena is killed by Cipher and her and Dom’s son is rescued by Deckard and Owen Shaw in the finale, as Dom turns to work with his team to stop Cipher. The movie includes a full Fast & Furious hero turn for Deckard Shaw, despite the characters believing he killed Han at this time.
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is the first spinoff from the main franchise and the ninth film overall in the Fast and Furious timeline. It pairs Hobbs and Deckard Shaw together to find the Snowflake virus obtained by Brixton (Idris Elba) and the mysterious, unseen Eteon. Hobbs & Shaw takes place after The Fate of the Furious and features the introduction of another Shaw sibling, Hattie (Vanessa Kirby). Hobbs, Deckard, and Hattie manage to defeat Eteon and Brixton and keep the Snowflake virus from being dispersed. The movie also includes the debuts of Madame M (Eiza Gonzalez), Victor Locke (Ryan Reynolds), and Dinkley (Kevin Hart), as well as the return of Queenie Shaw (Helen Mirren).
F9
F9 is the tenth installment in the Fast and Furious timeline overall and takes place at least a few years after The Fate of the Furious. Dom and Letty have retired from their adrenaline-fueled lives to raise Dom’s son Brian. However, they are drawn back into this life when Mr. Nobody goes missing and Dom’s brother Jakob kidnaps Cipher. Dom, Letty, Roman, Tej, Ramsey, Mia, and Han work together to stop Jakob from unleashing Project Ares, which gives the user control over any device on Earth that runs on code.
Fast X
Fast X is the 11th movie in the Fast and Furious timeline overall and the 10th in the main series. The movie only follows F9 by a short time, but it is a full 10 years since the events of Fast Five. That is important because the new villain here, Dante Reyes, was the son of the drug lord that Dom and Brian stole the money from in that earlier movie. He is back for revenge and wants to take away everything Dom has, from his money and reputation to his family to his friends. He succeeds here as well, with a major cliffhanger ending the movie, setting it up for the next and likely last movie in the franchise, Fast 11.
