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Jason Statham originally turned down joining Fast and Furious

Jason Statham is now well-known as Fast and Furious character Deckard Shaw, but there was a time when he declined to be in the action movie franchise

Jason Statham in Furious 7

Jason Statham’s return in Fast and Furious 10 is one of the major plot-points of the upcoming action movie. What’s going to happen between his Fast and Furious character Deckard Shaw and Han? We can only assume it’ll be explosive. However, at one point none of it was going to happen, until some good timing saved the day.

In an interview with Empire, Statham states that he wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t meant to be in the sixth Fast and Furious movie, until a small appearance became viable. “You know what, it came later. At the time, it was not a bare-faced lie,” he says. “I did say no, but then there was another sit-down, and next thing you know things had changed.”

He actually shot his scene, a post-credits redux of the ending to Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, in one afternoon while promoting thriller movie The Expendables 2. “I went over there one afternoon, killed a guy, threw a chain on the floor, made a phone call, left,” Statham recalls. Good work if you can get it!

Statham would be the main antagonist of Furious 7, and has been a recurring muscle-man ever since. He’s even got his own spin-off adventure with Dwayne Johnson, Hobbs and Shaw, that made north of $750 million at the box office.

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When Sung Kang’s Han returned in Fast 9, Statham did too. In the post-credits scene, the two come face-to-face, teasing a fight that fans have been waiting for since the sixth and seventh installments. Between that and the inevitable journey into space, Fast X is shaping up to be a 2023 movie we truly can’t wait for.

Fast X hits theatres May 19, 2023. For more of life a quarter mile at a time, check out our list of the best superhero movies.