Fast and Furious

Helen Mirren is an Oscar winner and a multi-time Golden Globe winner. She has a few Best Actress awards from the Cannes Film Festival, and a couple Emmys as well. She’s a Dame of the British Empire. As far as actors go, she is amongst the most respected in the entire world.

Increasingly the Fast and Furious franchise has felt like a superhero franchise. A group of heroes with seemingly infinite strength and abilities taking on the bad guys and becoming a family in the process. It's like Avengers meets the Fantastic Four, but with a lot of cars. With the movies already up to Part 7 and Paul Walker sadly gone, the series can't go on forever. So, how do they continue the brand? Just like the superheroes do: with spinoffs.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Justin Lin was being courted by Universal to return to the ‘Fast and Furious’ series after taking ‘Furious 7’ off and giving the director's seat to James Wan. It was also reported that his return would be be part of a two film “grand finale” that would send this beloved franchise driving off into the sunset. But that second part is just plain silly. Have you seen the box office receipts for these movies? So it should come as no surprise that the studio has “at least three” more Dominic Toretto and company adventures in the pipeline.

A few weeks ago, we reported that Denzel Washington had turned down a role in the upcoming 'Fast and Furious 7.' Now, Variety is reporting that the great Kurt Russell is in talks to step into the part instead. Goodbye, Mr. Washington. We love you, but this is a case where you will not be missed.