Vin Diesel confirms Fast Forever is set to begin filming in December after emotional four-year script journey

Vin Diesel has revealed that production on Fast Forever—the 11th and final mainline chapter of the Fast & Furious franchise—is scheduled to start shooting in December 2026. Speaking to Variety on Monday night at a special 25th-anniversary screening of the original The Fast and the Furious, the star and producer said the long-awaited finale finally has a clear path forward.
“We start shooting in December, if I can make good on the request from the studio,” Diesel explained. “I’m in a good place, though. I had to go through four sets of writers, four years of development, to get to something that I felt would be worthy of a finale. And when I read the script a couple of weeks ago, [I cried].”
Addressing the audience inside the theater before the lights went down, Diesel grew more personal about the emotional weight of the screenplay. “I’m going to tell you something personal,” he said. “It was after four different writers, four years of development, and after I read the script, halfway through, one tear. By the end of the script that we crafted and worked so hard to make right for you after four years, I was crying. I couldn’t hold it back, and I had to tell everyone. And my sister said, ‘No more crying, bro.’ So I just want to say that sometimes, even the toughest guys in the world need to cry.”
The film, written by Michael Lesslie (whose draft Diesel has publicly called the best he’s read in decades), is positioned as a heartfelt and high-stakes conclusion to the saga of Dom Toretto and his ever-expanding family. It is scheduled to hit theaters on March 17, 2028. The Fast & Furious series remains Universal’s longest-running and most profitable franchise, with a combined worldwide box office of approximately $7.3 billion.
While Diesel is fully invested in the latest draft, director Louis Leterrier—who is expected to return after helming Fast X—recently told Polygon that he has not yet read the script. “I’d love to tell you the full truth, but I can’t,” Leterrier said. “There will be an ending, and it’s great. I was very, very lucky to be part of the franchise, and I love Vin and I love Universal. They’re great to work with. So yeah. We’ll see, hopefully.”
After years of development hurdles and multiple rewrites, Diesel’s comments signal renewed momentum for a finale the franchise has been building toward since the cliffhangers of Fast X. Fans can expect an emotionally charged send-off that aims to honor the series’ roots while delivering the spectacle that has defined its global success.