By Erin Caine
Lifestyle Editor
There’s yet another “Fast & Furious” film on the horizon, but Vin Diesel won’t be behind the wheel in this one.
With the massive success of the action-packed street racing franchise, few were surprised to learn that a few spinoff movies are in the works (one starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham).
Then the news dropped that one of those planned spinoffs will feature all-female leads.
Back in January, Diesel revealed that, of the three planned spinoffs, there would be a film that focuses on the female characters that appeared throughout the main “Fast & Furious” movies.
Nicole Perlman, Lindsey Beer, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet are already onboard as the screenwriters for the project.
Perlman is known for her screenplay work for the 2014 sci-fi superhero flick “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and she also helped write the story for the upcoming “Captain Marvel” film—for which Robertson-Dworet co-penned the screenplay.
Robertson-Dworet is also set to write the screenplay for “Gotham City Sirens,” an upcoming film featuring the DC Universe characters of Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman.
Though women in the director’s chair is still pretty uncommon, many movie fans are excited to see so many upcoming female-centric films being written by women.
Clearly, the writers for this in-the-works “Fast & Furious” movie seem eager to be a part of new projects with female characters at the forefront.
Many fans anticipate that Michelle Rodriguez will reprise her role as Letty Ortiz in the new film.
Last year, Rodriguez, disappointed with female representation in the “Fast & Furious” films, reportedly threatened to walk away from the series altogether.
“I hope they show some love to the women in the franchise,” Rodriguez said. “I’d like to see them talk to each other for a change, you know what I mean?”
Jordana Brewster also announced that her character will be back in “Fast and Furious 9,” so fans expect to see her return as Mia Toretto for the spinoff, as well.
Hopefully, there will be some new faces added to the franchise, as well.
Though plenty of people are understandably hyped for the project, many fear the real possibility that it might have to put up with the negative reactions and gripes of longtime “Fast & Furious” fans.
It was only two years ago that the cast of the all-female “Ghostbusters” reboot had to weather some pretty harsh backlash from angry “fans” of the 1984 original.
And Hollywood’s next step, of course, is putting more faith in female-led projects without any pre-existing franchise clout—writing original stories with woman already in mind.
With the kind of progress that’s being made right now, however, the future for women in film doesn’t look too shabby.