F9 Could Retcon A Fast and Furious 4 Dom and Brian Scene

In the second F9 trailer, Brian O’Conner’s blue Nissan Skyline returns, meaning it could be retconning a key moment from 2009’s Fast & Furious. The fourth entry in the Fast Saga saw Brian’s Skyline destroyed along with Dom’s Chevelle SS as part of an important plot beat. F9 is either going to retcon this moment or it’s bringing back the Skyline as yet another tribute to the late Paul Walker.

The Skyline first appeared in 2 Fast 2 Furious, the entry that focused solely on Brian’s days as an FBI agent. It was an earlier model, a 1999 GT-R R34 rather than the 2002 model seen in the fourth film. It became an iconic car associated with Brian’s character, so when he was brought back to the franchise after the spinoff entry Tokyo Drift, it made sense for him to be driving it. It stood out from some of the other cars driven by Walker due to its bold blue paint job and stylish (for the early 2000s) spoiler.

Yet the Skyline was destroyed during a crucial moment in Fast & Furious. During a meeting with Braga’s men, Dom let the NOS tank in his Chevelle SS explode, which triggered a chain reaction of car explosions and allowed Dom and Brian the chance to escape. One of the cars that exploded was Brian’s Skyline, and yet it’s seen again at the beginning of the trailer for F9. It’s likely being driven by Mia, Brian’s wife and Dom’s sister. This means the film might be ignoring this earlier detail in order to feature an iconic element from earlier in the series. It wouldn’t be the only retcon F9 is doing since John Cena is playing Dom’s brother, a character who has not been mentioned once over the course of eight previous entries.

The other possibility is that the presence of the blue Skyline isn’t a literal retcon but rather a deliberate nod to Brian’s character. After Paul Walker’s tragic passing in 2013, the films have gone out of their way to honor his legacy and pay tribute to the star. The filmmakers made the deliberate choice to not kill off Brian but rather have him retire from the criminal lifestyle, giving him the happy ending Walker never had. The Skyline in the trailer might not literally be Brian’s Skyline that was destroyed, but another one he had gotten later as just another nod to the fact that his character is still alive and well in the world of the Fast Saga.

Whether it’s a full on retcon or just another car of the same model, the presence of the blue Skyline is still a subtle but touching nod to Paul Walker. It’s one of the signs that F9 is going to honor the franchise’s past as it leads into its finale.

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