Prepare for more high-adrenaline stakes as DreamWorks Animation Television prepares to bring an animated series based on the Fast & Furious franchise to Netflix.
Universal Pictures’ street-racing franchise has brought in the big bucks since 2001, but now ahead of the release of the ninth and 10th movies, a partnership between DreamWorks Animation and Netflix will see the car capers brought to life on the streaming service.
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Receiving a straight-to-series order, Fast & Furious will focus on Tony Toretto, the younger cousin of Vin Diesel’s Dom from the live-action movies. Tony and his teen friends are recruited to a government organization, hellbent on infiltrating a dangerous league of street racers being used as a front for crime.
As part of the Comcast-NBCUniversal’s acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, the Fast & Furious series will be the be the first title in a multi-year deal. Following in the footsteps of DreamWorks and Netflix shows like Trollhunters and DreamWorks Spirit Riding Free, the companies will put a more family-friendly spin on the adult-focused film series.
Voltron Legendary Defender’s Tim Hedrick and All Hail King Julien’s Bret Haaland will serve as showrunners. While there’s no news on whether Dom himself will make an appearance, Diesel will play a part as executive producer alongside longtime franchise producers Neal Moritz and Chris Morgan.
The voice cast has yet to be announced, but with everyone from Dom to Letty still major players in the movies, the Fast & Furious animated series could bring on board some impressive talent. With talk of young kids being recruited by the government, it sounds like the perfect opportunity for Kurt Russell’s Mr. Nobody to reprise his role from the movies.
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Considering that 2017’s Fast 8 became one of the quickest movies in cinematic history to cross the $1 billion mark, the potential for an expanded “Fastverse” has already been established. The show is only the latest proposed spinoff, with Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham already tipped for a Hobbs-Shaw standalone movie directed by David Leitch.
Known for the Shrek movies and Kung Fu Panda, DreamWorks may not be the first company audiences would expect to tackle a Fast & Furious TV series, but if it is anything like its multibillion-dollar movie counterpart, there could be some serious money in the idea.
The deal gives Netflix a first-look at DreamWorks Animation shows based on universal properties. DreamWorks and Netflix have already bought 14 original shows to the online platform, but considering Universal’s other big titles like Pacific Rim, Back to the Future and Jurassic Park, this could be just the start of many more fan-favorite cartoon adventures.