Spoiler Warning: Spoilers will be fast and furious throughout this piece. If you're not caught up with the franchise, please proceed with caution!
There’s a lot that can be said about Fast & Furious and the evolution of the franchise over the course of the past 22 years. And, there’s even more than can be said about the way in which the characters have gone from being low-level criminals and badass street racers to essentially superheroes who can survive just about anything, even crossing over into the unknown.
Over the years, countless Fast & Furious characters have died, only to come back a few minutes, or years, later in a form of deus ex machina that makes you completely forget this franchise started out as Point Break with street racing and boosted DVD players. With the Fast X ending leaving the fate of essentially every character up in the air, now seems like a good time to go back and recount some of the faces who have seemingly perished only to come back from the dead.
Dom Toretto
Though some could argue that Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) didn’t die in the climactic final battle in Furious 7 in which he drives a Dodge Charger into a helicopter to bring down the movie’s villain, there’s a moment where it looks like the Toretto family patriarch is about to drive his car through the pearly gates. Brian O’Conner's (Paul Walker) attempts to bring back his longtime friend aren’t successful, but Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), who'd recently regained her memories at this point, tells her partner-in-crime that she remembers everything. This is enough to bring him back with his classic “It’s about time” line.
Since the release of the 2015 box office juggernaut, Dom has continued to be the head of the table, and franchise, getting into all kinds of international situations in the process. We don’t yet know how things are going to play out for him in the upcoming Fast & Furious 11, there’s a good chance we haven’t seen the end of him, or his Dodge Charger, just yet.
Letty Ortiz
Letty's death is a major aspect of 2009’s Fast & Furious, and essentially drives the entire plot, as Dom and company are trying to figure out who killed her and how to get vengeance. Basically, after the opening tanker job leads to a lot of heat on the crew and forces them to go their separate ways, Letty gets wrapped up in Arturo Braga’s (John Ortiz) crime syndicate and is killed by his right-hand man, Fenix Calderon (Laz Alonso) after her services are no longer needed.
However, in the Fast Five mid-credits sequence, it is revealed that Letty is actually alive, but suffered a head injury which has caused her to lose her memory. The reunion of Dom and Letty would play out over the course of the next two movies before their romance was rekindled during the aforementioned Furious 7 finale. Ever since then, the pair have been as thick as thieves, and Letty has had an even bigger place in the franchise.
Han Lue
One of the biggest shockers in F9: The Fast Saga was the return of Han Lue (Sung Kang), who died in Tokyo Drift, a movie that takes place after the sixth film in the Fast and Furious franchise’s unnecessarily complicated timeline. In the 2006 movie, Han died in a fiery crash when a chase through the streets of Tokyo went awry. But, in Furious 7, it was revealed that Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) was responsible for the death through some customary retconning.
Years after the Justice For Han movement took the internet by storm, the character returned to help the Toretto crew in F9, revealing that he wasn’t actually dead, but instead working undercover for Mr. Nobody, and what we saw in the previous movies of his death was a hologram. Like a lot of the Fast X cast, Han’s fate appears again to be up in the air.
Owen Shaw
Even the villains survive death in the franchise, which is the case for Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), the Fast & Furious 6 antagonist who seemingly died after being thrown out of a crashing plane that essentially killed everyone else not named Dom. Though it was later revealed in Furious 6 that Shaw somehow survived the fall, he was left in a coma and on life support with a ventilator doing the breathing for him.
Similarly, Deckard Shaw would “die” in The Fate of the Furious, only to be brought back to life by his mother, Magdalene (Helen Mirren), and later go on to work with his brother to save Dom’s son from Cipher (Charlize Theron). Owen Shaw hasn’t been seen again, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him return, especially if Hobbs & Shaw 2 happens.
Elena Neves
Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky) was introduced to the Fast & Furious franchise in 2011’s Fast Five as a dedicated Rio police officer who joined Luke Hobbs’ (Dwayne Johnson) DDS team to help locate and arrest Dom and Brian. After being saved by Dom, the two form a strong bond, one that eventually turns romantic, leading to the birth of “Little Brian.”
Elena and her son would be used to blackmail Dom in the action-packed The Fate of the Furious, as Cipher held the pair hostage to force Toretto to turn against his team to save his family. This, sadly, would lead to Elena's death at the hands of the cyberterrorist. It appears she is now one of the few characters to die and stay dead in the franchise.
Gisele Yashar
After being introduced in 2009’s Fast & Furious, Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot) became a major player in the Toretto crew over the course of the next two movies. She seemingly sacrificed herself in the final act of Fast & Furious 6, but Gisele’s legacy was still felt throughout the next few installments, including Fast X. Which brings us to her shocking, yet not surprising, return to the fold.
Before the movie even landed in theaters, there was talk of Gisele coming back from the grave to rescue Letty and Cipher from the Agency’s “black site” prison in Antarctica in a massive submarine. We didn’t get much time with Gisele upon her return, but maybe she’ll be a part of the long-planned female-led Fast & Furious movie.
As you can probably tell by now, the Fast & Furious franchise has no qualms about playing fast and loose with the fates of its characters, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you want to go on a trip down memory lane with these heroes and villains, you can do so by watching the Fast & Furious movies streaming. If you’re looking for what’s next at the box office this year, check out our 2023 movie schedule.
