Key Takeaways
- The Fast and Furious series, with 11 films and over $6 billion in earnings, is best viewed in chronological order, not by release date.
- For the optimal viewing sequence of Fast and Furious films, including spoiler alerts, see our detailed list; for a spoiler-free version, skip to the end.
- Debuting in 2001, the first Fast and Furious film features Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), an undercover LAPD officer, infiltrating Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) gang to uncover a heist plot.
We’ve had more than two decades of street racing, heists, and espionage from Dominic Toretto, Brian O’Conner, and their team – or family as they would call them – in the Fast and Furious franchise. It’s one of the highest-grossing film series of all time, having a combined gross of over $6 billion, with 11 films released so far, including the latest Fast X, two short films that tie into those films, and multiple spin-off films in the works. Despite being a series mostly about racing, the timeline is anything but straightforward.
Fast X hit the streets on 19 May 2023, two years after Fast and Furious 9 which debuted on 25 June 2021. It’s a two-part finale so an extra movie following Fast X is coming, though it’s not slated to hit theaters until April 4, 2025. To get caught up on all the high-octane action, this is the chronological order you should watch in.
There will be spoilers for the plots of each entry in the series. To stay completely spoiler-free, just read the titles in order before watching the films or scroll to the bottom for a spoiler-free list.
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The Fast and the Furious
Where it all begins
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
An FBI agent infiltrates a group of street racers who’ve been stealing shipments of DVD players.
- Director
- Rob Cohen
- Writers
- Gary Scott Thompson
- Starring
- Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez
- Run Time
- 106 minutes
The first Fast and Furious film arrived in 2001, and it focuses on Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) as an undercover LAPD officer who infiltrates Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) gang in an attempt to uncover those behind a heist crew involving three modified Honda Civics stealing DVD players from the back of tractor trailers. Simple beginnings for a series that’ll eventually see Ludacris go to space in a Pontiac Fiero.
Brian ends up falling for Dom’s sister, Mia, and the film ends with Brian helping Dom get away from the police by giving him the 10-second car he owes him after he lost his car to Dom in a street race earlier in the film.
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2 Fast 2 Furious
Brian takes his talents to South Beach
2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
Brian teams up with childhood friend named Roman Pierce to infiltrate a Miami drug lord’s operation through high-speed racing.
- Director
- John Singleton
- Writers
- Michael Brandt, Derek Haas
- Starring
- Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes
- Run Time
- 107 minutes
2 Fast 2 Furious focuses on Brian O’Conner as the lead. Having relocated to Miami, Brian takes part in street racing to make a living, with a little car-modifying help from mechanic Tej Parker (Ludacris) – a character that goes on to play a big role in later films in the Fast and Furious franchise.
Brian ends up cutting a deal with his former boss – FBI Agent Bilkins (Thom Barry) – to return to undercover work and take down drug lord Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) in return for a clean record. His childhood friend Roman Pierce joins him as his partner and together they end up bringing Verone down, resulting in clean records for them both.
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Fast and Furious 4 (2009)
Dom and Brian get the family back together
Fast and Furious (2009)
Brian teams up with childhood friend named Roman Pierce to infiltrate a Miami drug lord’s operation through high-speed racing.
- Director
- Justin Lin
- Writers
- Justin Lin
- Starring
- Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster
- Run Time
- 107 minutes
Fast and Furious 4 sees Domonic Toretto and Brian O’Conner reunite after five years of Dom being on the run. Dom’s crew, which consists of Letty, Tego Leo, Rico Santos, Cara and Han Lue – some of which are main characters going forward – are hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic, before they go their separate ways.
Several months later, Dom finds out Letty has been killed so Dom returns to the US for her funeral and to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Brian, now an FBI agent, is trying to track down a drug lord called Arturo Braga, who it turns out Letty was working undercover for whilst trying to clear Dom’s record when she died (or so the film leads you to believe).
Dom and Brian work together to bring down Bruga and his henchman Fenix, which they succeed in doing thanks to Gisele (Bruga’s liaison) – another character that becomes prominent in the series going forward – but the result is Dom ends up getting caught by the FBI and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The film ends with Brian, Mia, Leo, and Santos arriving in their cars to intercept the bus taking Dom to prison.
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Fast Five
Dom and Brian plan one last job
Fast Five (2011)
Dom and his crew hatch a plan to steal a Brazilian drug lord’s fortune that draws the attention of a relentless federal agent played by the Rock.
- Director
- Justin Lin
- Writers
- Chris Morgan
- Starring
- Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson
- Run Time
- 130 minutes
Fast Five begins with Dom, Brian, and Mia in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, where they are on the run after breaking Dom out of the prison bus in the previous film. Agent Luke Hobbs (Wayne Johnson) arrives in Rio to arrest Dom and Brian with the help of local officer Elena Neves, so Dom and Brian decide to steal money from crime lord Hernan Reyes to start a new life on the run. They pull together a team, which includes Han, Roman, Tej, Gisele, Leo, and Santos, along with help from Hobbs and Elena and succeed in the heist of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Hobbs and Elena help as a thank you to Dom, Brian, Mia, and Vince (a character from the first film) for saving their lives previously in the film, but Hobbs isn’t prepared to let them go free. Instead, he gives them a 24-hour head start. The end of the film shows a very pregnant Mia on a beach with Brian, Dom, and Elena together. Hobbs then appears mid-credits with a file showing a recent photo of Letty – who Dom thinks is dead.
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Fast & Furious 6
Letty’s alive, but can’t remember Dom
Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
Dom and his crew are pulled out of retirement when Hobbs reveals that Letty is still alive and working for a deadly mercenary.
- Director
- Justin Lin
- Writers:
- Chris Morgan
- Starring
- Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson
- Run Time
- 130 minutes
Fast and Furious 6 opens with all the members of the heist in Brazil living happy lives in retirement when Agent Luke Hobbs persuades Dom to help capture a former special ops soldier called Owen Shaw and his crew, one member of which is Letty – Dom’s wife. Dom and his crew agree to help in exchange for clean records, allowing them to come back to the US.
Dom and his team eventually complete the mission successfully, but not without loss. Gisele – Han’s girlfriend – sacrifices herself to save Han, resulting in her death. The mid-credits then show Han in Tokyo – the city he and Gisele were planning to go to following the capture of Shaw – in a car chase. Han’s car is suddenly crashed into before it explodes and Dom gets a phone call from the driver – Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) – saying “You don’t know me, but you’re about to”. This is tied to the third Fast and Furious film – Tokyo Drift – from 2006, which sees Han working in the Tokyo racing scene. It also sets up Statham’s Shaw as the next villain for Dom’s crew.
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The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
An American teen is introduced to the Tokyo race scene
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
Tokyo Drift follows an American teen who moves to Tokyo to avoid jail time for illegal street racing.
- Director
- Justin Lin
- Writers
- Chris Morgan
- Starring
- Lucas Black, Bow Wow, Nathalie Kelley
- Run Time
- 104 minutes
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift focuses on high school student Sean Boswell, who goes to live in Tokyo to avoid jail for street racing. While in Tokyo, Sean meets Han, who gives him a job and trains him in a style of drift racing popular in the city. That leads Sean to challenge the local racing champ known as the Drift King, played by Billy Lee. We then see Han die in the accident that we found out in the previous film was orchestrated by Deckard Shaw. Han isn’t the only other character from the larger Fast and Furious universe to appear in Tokyo Drift as Dom shows up at the end to challenge Sean to a race.
Tokyo Drift is the first film in the series directed by Justin Lin and written by Chris Morgan. The pair would go on to write and direct the most successful films in the franchise.
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Furious 7
Brian’s last ride
Furious 7 (2015)
Owen Shaw’s brother Deckard is out for revenge against Dom and the rest of the crew.
- Director
- Justin Lin
- Writers
- Chris Morgan
- Starring
- Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson
- Run Time
- 137 minutes
Furious 7 is all about rogue special forces assassin Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), taking vengeance on Dominic Toretto’s team for putting his brother, Owen, into a coma. Helped by a covert ops team led by Mr Nobody (Kurt Russel), Dom and his team attempt to track down Shaw, whilst also trying to obtain a computer program called God’s Eye and rescue its creator – Ramsay.
Following a few close calls and a one-on-one fight between Dom and Shaw at the top of a parking garage, Hobbs returns to help save the day. Shaw ends up going to prison, while Dom and his team are back on the beach. Brian retires from the team to be with pregnant Mia and their son, saying goodbye to Dom at a crossroads. Furious 7 is the last we see of Brian O’Connor as Paul Walker tragically died in a real car crash mid-way through filming, leading to the retirement of his character.
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The Fate of the Furious
Dom is forced to turn his back on the family
The Fate of the Furious (2017)
Dom is forced to go rogue by the cyber-terrorist Cypher, but his crew won’t let him go.
- Director
- F. Gary Gray
- Writers
- Chris Morgan
- Starring
- Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham
- Run Time
- 136 minutes
In the eighth Fast and Furious film, Dominic Toretto is coerced into working for cyber-terrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron), which sees him go rogue and against his team – Letty, Roman, Tej, and Ramsay – when on a mission led by Hobbs. Hobbs then gets arrested, ending up in the same prison as Deckard Shaw from Furious 7. Hobbs and Shaw are then recruited together by Mr Nobody to find Dom and capture Cipher.
After learning that Elena had a child with Dom that she kept secret from him, Cipher kidnaps the child in order to blackmail Dom. Elena is eventually killed by Cipher, and Dom is left needing help from his team, Hobbs, and the Shaw brothers if he ever wants to see his child again.
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Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw
The spin-off sees the two unlikely allies unite to take on a super-soldier
Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw (2019)
Hobbs and Shaw must overcome their hatred of one another to stop an enhanced terrorist with a programmable virus.
- Director
- David Leitch
- Writers
- Chris Morgan, Drew Pearce
- Starring
- Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba
- Run Time
- 137 minutes
Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw is the first spin-off in the Fast and Furious franchise. It sees the titular characters, agent Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, team up to stop Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), a cyber-genetically enhanced terrorist in possession of a programmable virus.
Although the film doesn’t have any other Fast and Furious characters, it sticks to the basics of the franchise as Hobbs and Shaw go on a globe-trotting adventure to obtain the virus known as Snowflake before heading to Hobb’s home in Somoa to make a final stand against Brixton.
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F9: The Fast Saga
Dom’s long-lost brother comes home
F9: The Fast Saga (2021)
Hobbs and Shaw must overcome their hatred of one another to stop an enhanced terrorist with a programmable virus.
- Director
- Justin Lin
- Starring
- Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, John Cena
- Writers
- Daniel Casey, Justin Lin
- Run Time
- 143 minutes
F9: The Fast Saga, picks up with Dominic Toretto now retired and raising his son Brian with his wife Letty. It’s not long before the gang is back together again when Dom’s long-lost brother Jakob (John Cena) steals the first part of a device that can hack into computer weapons systems. From there, the entire gang has to head to different parts of the world in order to prevent Jakob from getting the other parts of the device he needs.
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Fast X
The team’s past comes back to haunt them
Fast X (2023)
Hobbs and Shaw must overcome their hatred of one another to stop an enhanced terrorist with a programmable virus.
- Director
- Louis Leterrier
- Writers
- Dan Mazeau, Justin Lin
- Starring
- Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson
- Run Time
- 141 minutes
Fast X sees the sins of the team’s past come back to bite them. You may remember the gigantic safe they pulled through Rio De Janeiro hooked to cars in Fast Five that belonged to the drug lord Hernan Reyes. Reyes’ son, Dante (Jason Momoa) has spent the decade since plotting his revenge against Dom for taking his family fortune. The film ends on a cliffhanger and was originally part one of a planned two-film finale for the main films in the Fast and Furious universe. Vin Diesel has since stated that there will actually be two more Fast and Furious movies.
That next chapter is still a little way off though, as Fast and Furious 11 isn’t slated to hit theaters until April 4, 2025.
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