While promoting the opening of the new Fast & Furious: Supercharged ride at the Universal Orlando Resort, Vin Diesel, along with Ludacris, Jordana Brewster and Tyrese Gibson, the question was posed on if there were any scoops that Diesel could share, to which he confirmed the early talks that director Justin Lin would be returning to the series for the (presumably) final chapters.
"It does get bigger. I just got off the phone with Justin Lin, who is directing Fast nine and Fast ten and I can't tell you how excited he is!" The Today Show pressed for any big locations that we may see, and Diesels said (as he's teased before): "We haven't been to Africa, I will tell you, and we are long overdue."
Lin has been a busy man of late, having traded cars for spaceships with 2016's STAR TREK BEYOND, developing a Bruce Lee-inspired series for Cinemax and is currently tapped to direct the pilot for the Magnum P.I. reboot with Jay Hernandez, as well as preparing to direct a movie based on HOT WHEELS and a sequel to SPACE JAM. Perhaps we should call him Justin Lin del Toro? Personally, I think Lin has made the best of the Fast & Furious franchise films to date (FAST FIVE and FAST & FURIOUS 6 being my faves), although the films have still continued to either get better or, at the very least, maintain a certain level of ridiculous fun that can't be denied. Having Lin back out to "finish" (yeah, we'll see about that after them box office dollars roll in) the series is fitting enough and will surely benefit from his aesthetic and relationship with the crew. Meanwhile, director David Leitch is set to direct the Dwayne Johnson/Jason Statham F&F spinoff, so there's no sign of this family dying out anytime soon.
FAST & FURIOUS 9 is currently set for release on April 10th, 2020.