What If Fast & Furious Hadn’t Brought Back Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty?

The Fast & Furious franchise brought Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty back from the dead, but the movies would be very different if she remained dead. Letty Ortiz was a main character in The Fast and the Furious, but the franchise surprisingly killed her off in just her second appearance. The fourth Fast & Furious included Letty’s death early on in the movie and used the event to bring back Brian O’Connor and Dominic Toretto together. However, Fast Five‘s post-credits scene then set up the big reveal that Letty was still alive, allowing her to return in a significant capacity in Fast & Furious 6.

Even though Fast & Furious teased Letty died after being shot, Fast & Furious 6 revealed the bullet hit her car, and the ensuing explosion tossed her off the road. This allowed Owen Shaw to find Letty with severe amnesia causing her not to remember anything about her past and be a bit of a villain. The franchise continued to reverse these decisions by bringing Letty back to Dom’s crew and reinstating her as his main love interest, which includes them getting married. The Fast & Furious sequels have repeatedly used Michelle Rodriguez’s character and made her one of the franchise’s main characters. She’s returned for every entry in the main franchise after Fast & Furious 6 revived Letty and will be seen again in Fast X and presumably Fast & Furious 11.

There is an alternate world where Letty’s role in the Fast & Furious franchise was not given a second life. The movies could have stuck to the initial decision to kill Letty. Considering the role she has played since coming back and how it has shaped the franchise at large, audiences would have experienced a very different story if Fast & Furious had not brought Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty back to life. Here is what the sequels and storylines may have looked like instead.

How Letty Staying Dead Changes Dom’s Story

Since Letty is such a vital part of Dom’s Fast & Furious story after her surprise return, the movies would completely change the arc of Vin Diesels’ character without her. Letty’s return in Fast & Furious 6 meant the sequel brought Dom and Letty’s love story back. This meant pushing Elsa Pataky’s Elena to the side so Dom could rekindle his romance with Letty. But if the Fast & Furious movies did not bring Letty back, it would seem that Dom and Elena’s life together would have continued. They are living together in the Canary Islands and seemingly are happy to be no longer involved in missions to save the world. This included Elena becoming pregnant with Dom’s child, but she keeps that fact a secret due to his decision to return to Letty. If Michelle Rodriguez’s character did not return, then Elena and Dom would have been able to stay together and raise their son, Brian.

Based on how Letty and Dom’s story continued after Fast & Furious 6, it would seem that his life without her would likely have happened relatively the same way, just with Elena by his side instead. This would potentially mean that Elena would join Dom’s crew in Furious 7, but it also may have drastically changed The Fate of the Furious. The eighth film killed Elena as part of Cipher’s scheme to manipulate and control Dom. The Fate of the Furious villain Cipher kidnaps Elena and her son without Dom knowing, but that might not be the case if they were still together in a world where Letty died. The movie would have had to explain that Cipher kidnapped them when Dom was not around or find a different motivation for Dom’s evil turn. In either case, it is difficult to imagine The Fate of the Furious killing Elena in a scenario where Letty’s death was permanent.

Fast & Furious Character Deaths Would Remain Permanent

Not bringing Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty back could have also meant that the Fast & Furious franchise would keep its character deaths permanent. The movies already found a workaround to bring Han back by changing the Fast & Furious timeline, but the sixth film confirmed that he died at the hands of Deckard Shaw. However, F9 featured the shocking revelation that Han survived and faked his death with the help of Mr. Nobody. It may have brought back a fan-favorite character in the process, but reversing Han’s death in such a fashion only came after the franchise did the same for Letty. Fast & Furious bringing Letty back became the beginning of the franchise making deaths feel less permanent. It has created a greater sense that any character who died could come back in some fashion, even if that is not best for the story. But if Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty did not return after what was sold as her death, then Fast & Furious character deaths would feel more impactful going forward.

What Fast & Furious 6’s Story Would Be Without Letty’s Revival

Without Letty’s revival, Fast & Furious 6‘s story would largely be different. The reveal that Letty is still seemingly alive is what pulls Dom back into action to work with his old crew and Hobbs. In a world where Michelle Rodriguez’s character stayed dead, Fast & Furious 6 would need a new way to bring Dom into the plot to stop Owen Shaw. If Letty still was imagined to be part of the film in some way, the sequel could have revealed that Owen Shaw was partially responsible for her death, giving Dom a personal reason to go after him. Another potentially fun scenario is that the franchise could have combined storylines for Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7 by making Owen Shaw the one who killed Han. That would give Dom a revenge narrative, even though it would mean Han would need to die during the film’s beginning instead of in the post-credits. However, that might also mean that Gal Gadot’s Gisele could have survived.

Why Fast & Furious Was Right To Bring Letty Back

There is undoubtedly a way for the Fast & Furious franchise to continue without Letty, but it is understandable why Michelle Rodriguez was brought back eventually. Her exit from the franchise in the fourth movie was quite disappointing and disrespectful, considering how prominent of a role she was meant to have. It became another example of a movie’s story using fridging, which describes killing a female character to propel a male character’s story forward. Letty’s return in Fast & Furious 6 allowed the franchise to begin rectifying the earlier mistake. Viewers have since been able to see Michelle Rodriguez become one of the main stars of the franchise, which now might even include her starring in an all-female Fast & Furious spinoff.