Fast and Furious: the series in chronological order

Fast & Furious 9 is on its way to the big screen, replete with car chases, flying cars, magnetic cars and all manner of other set-piece craziness.

Feeling the need to brush up on your Fast & Furious history? Here's our guide to the series in chronological order. 

1. The Fast & the Furious (2001)

This is where it all began with a lean, mean, pared-down street-racing saga. Macho men will pout and bros will bond as Paul Walker's FBI agent Brian O'Conner infiltrates the automotive gang of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel).  Brian's allegiances then begin to veer wildly between the badge and Dom's full-throttle lifestyle, although, as we know, it's the latter that wins out. Top marks for that climactic stunt sequence as two cars race against an oncoming train - it's considerably more lo-fi than the stunts in the later movies but, oddly enough, somewhat more visceral.

2. 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

Walker went in alone for the sequel (Diesel was off making XXX), which introduced key crew members Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris). Oddly enough, it was directed by John Singleton who had scored a critical hit with the thoughtful, and decidedly non-action-related, Boyz n the Hood from 1991.

3. Fast & Furious (2009)

After stalling in several underperforming movies, Diesel was lured back to the Fast-chise where he has remained ever since. Note how this film's title removes the 'thes' and the numbers – this anticipated an ongoing pattern of terse, stripped-down titles in the series. This was the first movie since the original instalment to showcase all of the original cast: in addition to Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez (Letty) and Jordana Brewster (Mia) all came back. Other key faces to watch out for: Gal Gadot's Gisele and Sung Kang's Han. 

4. Fast Five (2011)

This is the one that sent the franchise careering in a completely new direction: it was no longer a street-racing series but a heist movie on steroids on wheels. An opening train escape sets the tone, and a climactic sequence in which a bank vault is dragged through the streets of Rio de Janeiro seals the deal. The movie fuses the original Fast & Furious cast with those faces introduced in 2 Fast 2 Furious, officially knitting together the ensemble cast we've come to know and love. Still, they're singlehandedly overpowered by the walking hunk of testosterone that is Dwayne Johnson, here making his first appearance as Hobbs who is determined to hunt Dom down.

5. Fast & Furious Six (2013)

It becomes personal for Dom and his crew as the villainous Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) brings chaos to the streets of Europe. This means clutch-melting action on the streets of London (a first for the series) and a tank charging down a Spanish highway. Once again directed by Justin Lin, it was a significant box office success marked by its increasingly ludicrous stunt work, including a showdown against a taxiing plane on the world's seemingly longest runway.

6. The Fast & The Furious: Toyko Drift (2006)

At the point where both Vin Diesel and Paul Walker had briefly stepped away from the series, the story alighted on a new character, Sean (Lucas Black). He only got to hog the limelight in this one, Japan-centric iteration of the series, and there's again an emphasis on street-racing and drifting cars (remember, these were the dark days before Fast Five). However, a closing stinger features the return of a certain Dominic Toretto, reminding everyone who's the boss behind the wheel. This was the first movie in the series directed by Justin Lin who's now become a franchise fixture. It was also the first film to be scripted by series regular Chris Morgan, and the first to be scored by composer Brian Tyler.

7. Furious 7 (2015)

The Conjuring director James Wan made his action debut and brought the seventh Fast film to the big screen. By this stage, the budget had increased exponentially, allowing the stunt team to indulge in all manner of jaw-dropping feats including cars dropping out of a plane on parachutes, and other cars flying from one skyscraper to another. This was also the series debut of Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw, the first villain to share a connection with a baddie we'd already seen (Furious 6's Owen Shaw). He's said to be responsible for the deaths of both Gal Gadot's Gisele and Sung Kang's Han, although the latter appears in Fast & Furious 9, no doubt ready to explain himself.

8. The Fate of the Furious (2017)

Charlize Theron's Cipher blackmails Dom into assisting her while Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham lustily compare their abs from opposing prison cells. Yes, it can only be the eighth Fast & Furious movie. By this stage, Dom's crew hadn't quite made it into space (a line in the movie references that point), but Johnson does manage to grapple with a torpedo fired from a submarine. Us mere mortals can only hang our heads in shame. A significant commercial hit, the eighth film grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

9. Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

Fans had long been clamouring for a standalone Fast & Furious vehicle shared between Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. They got their wish in Hobbs & Shaw, which redefines the word ridiculous in ways that are quite endearing. This is largely thanks to the antagonistic chemistry between the two main players, whose affinity with both comedy and action had already stolen Vin Diesel's thunder in The Fate of the Furious. One wonders if this was the cause of the reported on-set ire experienced between Diesel and Johnson (the latter called the former a "candy ass").

10. Fast & Furious 9 (2021)

Thanks to that on-set frisson, Johnson is absent from the ninth Fast film. (Statham is also nowhere to be found.) But series stalwart Diesel props up a hefty cast of familiar faces – Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Sung Kang, Charlize Theron, Kurt Russell and Nathaline Emmanuel (both returning from the seventh movie) and Helen Mirren (reprising her role as Magdelena Shaw from the eighth). Justin Lin directs, Chris Morgan scribes, cars go magnetic, cars fly through the air, the story traverses the globe from Scotland to Thailand, and John Cena turns up as Dom's brother Jakob.

Click here to book your tickets for Fast & Furious 9, which opens in Cineworld cinemas on the 24th of June.