HOBBS & SHAW Sequel Is Indeed In Development, According To Dwayne Johnson

Despite not quite living up to its mothership franchise, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw was still mostly well-received by audiences, revving its way all the way to a $760.4 million worldwide haul ($173.9M domestic; $585.1M foreign) on an estimated $200 million production budget. 

The David Leitch-directed action blockbuster, which starred Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in the titular roles, finished its summer box office run as the fourth-highest grossing movie in the entire Fast & Furious franchise and the eleventh-highest grossing film of 2019.

While the film did more or less set up a sequel (well, multiple sequels), it wasn't necessarily a sure thing as Universal seemed to shift its attention back over to the primary series of films, ramping up promotions for the upcoming Fast & Furious 9 rather than offering any sort of update on whether Luke Hobbs & Deckard Shaw would ride again anytime soon.

Now, with a vast majority of the film industry shut down for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has offered a promising update during a recent Instagram Live session. When asked, he confirms to fans that the sequel is indeed in development, but it seems as though it may be a little further out than anticipated. 

"We are developing now the next film, the next [Hobbs & Shaw] movie, and I'm pretty excited about it... Just gotta figure out the creative right now, and the direction we’re going to go."

While Johnson's comments do seem to indicate the sequel may have a new writer and possibly a new director, it's probably too early to say whether either will actually come to fruition. Considering Chris Morgan's ties to molding the entire franchise, it's highly probable he'll be back in some capacity. David Leitch has Undying Love, The Division and maybe Deadpool 3 on his docket for this year and beyond, so there is a possibility he may not return to helm the next installment, but again, it's too early to say.

Ever since hulking lawman Hobbs (Johnson), a loyal agent of America's Diplomatic Security Service, and lawless outcast Shaw (Statham), a former British military elite operative, first faced off in 2015’s Furious 7, the duo have swapped smack talk and body blows as they’ve tried to take each other down.

But when cyber-genetically enhanced anarchist Brixton (Idris Elba) gains control of an insidious bio-threat that could alter humanity forever — and bests a brilliant and fearless rogue MI6 agent (The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby), who just happens to be Shaw’s sister — these two sworn enemies will have to partner up to bring down the only guy who might be badder than themselves.