Fast and Furious 9 has come screeching, pedal to the metal, into cinemas. If you're a cinema-goer, you may be wondering whether it's worth sticking around through the credits. The answer to that is a certifiable "hell yeah!" because there's a Fast and Furious 9 post-credits scene that's a lot of fun.
If you've seen the new Fast and Furious movie and seen the scene play out, you may be wondering about what just happened and director Justin Lin's intentions behind the moment. We sat down with the filmmaker to discuss the scene in spoilerific detail. But before we go into that...
Fast and Furious 9 post-credits scene spoilers ahead!!
Still here? Then you have witnessed Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw beating up someone in a punch bag, trying to find out more information about a certain flash drive. Then, some knocks on the door, and Han steps in.
Han and Shaw have a lot of unfinished business. During the Fast and Furious 6 post-credits scene, we learned that Shaw was the person who killed Han in Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. Turns out, Shaw wanted revenge on the Fast Family – including Han – for almost killing his brother, Owen Shaw, played by Luke Evans (who also later returns in The Fate of the Furious).
In Fast and Furious 9, Han returns, with his "death" scene being shown from a different angle. Mr. Nobody, played by Kurt Russell, faked Han's death so that Han could secretly continue protecting Anna Sawai's Elle, who's the key to the world-ending device in F9.
Han and Shaw, then, certainly have some unfinished business – but the plan wasn't always to bring back the beloved Tokyo Drift character. In fact, Lin was "equally baffled" when The Fate of the Furious ended with Shaw being embraced as part of the Fast Family.
"When I found out, I was equally baffled," he says. "I will run into fans and they're like 'Justice for [Gal Gadot's character] Giselle' and I'm like, 'Well, no.' Justice for Han is not bringing back a character you like, it was that the treatment of the character was not right. Justice for Han is not something you serve as just by bringing him back for one film, it's how we treat Han and all our characters from this point on out. And so, it just felt very organic that, with the real estate that we had, at some point, I do want to see him face to face with Shaw."
"It was a great call with Jason," he continues. "He's like, 'Hey man, you called me the last time to do the tag. I did it and you left. This time, you're not gonna leave? Right?' It was a great moment of connection for me."
Lin directed Fast and Furious: Toyko Drift through to Fast and Furious 6, with James Wan stepping in to direct Furious 7, which saw Statham's Shaw as the villain. Lin returned for F9 and will act as director on the upcoming Fast and Furious 10. Hopefully, in that sequel, we'll see Han and Shaw's tense meeting play out.
While we wait for Fast10 Your Seatbelts, catch up on the whole series with our guide on how to watch the Fast and Furious movies in order.
