Dwayne Johnson & Jason Statham prepare to throw down in new Hobbs & Shaw pic

Stop the presses, open your ear holes, and listen close, because Dwayne Johnson has a message for all of you Fast & Furious fans.

"You are going to fucking love this movie," said the man who can always smell his own cooking to Entertainment Weekly about the upcoming Fast spin-off HOBBS & SHAW. The box office behemoth then continued, “I’m sharing this with you now because I know you’re such a big fan,” Johnson said to Derek Lawrence of EW, who proclaims that he's seen Fast Five approximately 100 times. “There’s going to be some big, ‘Oh, holy sh??, I did not see that coming’ moments.”

For HOBBS & SHAW, Fast & Furious fan favorite characters US Diplomatic Security Agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) will form an unlikely alliance for a new pedal to the metal, balls to the wall, action-packed adventure. Directed by DEADPOOL 2 helmer David Leitch from a script by Chris Morgan (FURIOUS SEVEN, 47 RONIN) and based on characters created by Gary Scott Thompson, Johnson says that the upcoming film is putting its best foot forward by bringing the best team together for an explosive production.

When asked if the HOBBS & SHAW spin-off was always a part of the Fast & Furious plan – well, since Fast Five, really – Johnson told Lawrence that, "Yes, absolutely. It’s very exciting and it’s also very motivating. Again, this has been, as you said, a long time coming. We started talking about the potential of a spin-off really after Fast Five. And then when Fast 6 came around, that’s when we started having real talks about it, but then the challenge was just finding out what the creative could be and how we cracked that. I’m really happy that we were not only be able to crack the creative and really lean into the relationship and chemistry — the biting chemistry between myself and Jason Statham — but I think that also you find out that it’s something the fans have been wanting for some time now."

Johnson then continued, "When you have a franchise that is as successful as the Fast & Furious franchise, the goal, certainly my goal, was always to try and create a scenario where we have as much longevity as we possibly can have. And in that spirit, you have to evolve and you have to spin off and you have to create new characters and new stories, especially when you’re coming off Fast 8, where you have an eight at the end of your title. [Laughs.] And while that one was wildly successful as well, we all collectively felt, myself, Jason Statham, the studio, all right, now’s the time, let’s make our move. So it’s been pretty surreal, but it’s also been a lot of fun and pretty exciting."

For the full interview, be sure to click here.

Meanwhile, alongside the informative interview, EW debuted a new firt look pic for the film, which features both Hobbs and Shaw gearing up for action. You can check the pic out for yourself above. Also, I'll award you 10 points to a Hogwarts house of your choice if you can tell me what the hell Johnson and Statham are holding in the image. Are those chair legs? Spare parts from a failed IKEA furniture project? I've no idea, and would love to know what you think. Be sure to leave a note in the comments section below with your ideas. Oh, and before I forget, HOBBS & SHAW is scheduled to park its muscle-bound ass in theaters on August 2, 2019.