As a part of their ongoing multi-year deal with Dreamworks Animation Television, Netflix has announced that they've ordered an animated FAST & FURIOUS series for their streamer. In the series, a teenager by the name of Tony Toretto follows in the footsteps of his cousin Dom when he and his friends are recruited by a government agency to infiltrate an elite racing league serving as a front for a nefarious crime organization bent on world domination.
In talking about the upcoming project, Margie Cohn, president of DreamWorks Animation Television released a statement saying: “We are excited to extend and expand our successful relationship with Netflix by not only delivering more high-quality DreamWorks programming but connecting fans of Universal films with fascinating new stories. Our new home at Universal marks an exciting new chapter for storytelling at our studio, and Fast & Furious is only the beginning.”
Writing the project will be Tim Hedrick, whose script work on Dreamworks' mega-popular VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER series has made him a hot ticket in the Hollywood writer's market. Joining Hedrick on the project will be Bret Haaland, who in the past has produced animated shows like ALL HAIL KING JULIEN and THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR for the studio. Both men will serve as executive producers and showrunners for the FAST & FURIOUS animated series. Furthermore, Vin Diesel, Neal Moritz and Chris Morgan, who act as producers for the live-action arm of the franchise will rev their engines as executive producers for the new animated venture.
“We are thrilled to take our fantastic partnership with DreamWorks Animation to the next level with new opportunities from the vast library of Universal Pictures,” said Melissa Cobb, vice president of kids and family for Netflix. “The ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise is a global phenomenon beloved by audiences of all ages, and we can’t wait to get started on the new animated series that will capture the action, heart, humor and global appeal of the feature films.”
Meanwhile, the next installment of the live-action FAST & FURIOUS franchise is scheduled to drift into theaters on July 2019, with set to arrive in April 2020 and April 2021. For the moment, there has been no official word as to whether or not stars from the live-action Fast films will climb into the vehicle with the intent of reprising their respective roles.