Why Jason Statham Isn’t Returning For Fast & Furious 9

Jason Statham isn’t going to be playing Deckard Shaw in Fast & Furious 9 for a pretty mundane reason: he was busy filming Hobbs & Shaw. In his series debut in Fast & Furious 6, Shaw quickly established himself as a prominent villain. In a flashback, he’s shown driving Han’s car off the road back in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Following that and a villainous turn in Furious 7, Fate of the Furious went to great lengths to redeem Shaw, ending with Dom making him part of the family despite what he’s done.

Thanks to Jason Statham’s strong performance and unexpected chemistry with Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs, he was chosen to be one of the leads in the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw. It was well-received by fans of the series and became one of the top grossing movies of 2019. Despite its success, the spinoff is the reason that Statham won’t be in F9. While Johnson also had his feud with Vin Diesel that caused problems in Fate of the Furious getting in the way, Statham’s absence from F9 is about mundane Hollywood logistics.

Specifically, Jason Statham isn’t in Fast & Furious 9 because of scheduling conflicts. In an interview with MTV News, Dwayne Johnson mentioned that F9 was prepping for and starting production while he and Statham were doing interviews and promotion for Hobbs & Shaw. Specifically, he says “As of now, we’re not in Fast 9 because they’re getting ready to start shooting. But who knows with Fast 10 and down the road, you never know.” From the sound of that, Statham and Johnson missed out on F9 because their commitments to Hobbs & Shaw wouldn’t allow it.

Shaw’s absence from F9 sits weirdly with fans, many of whom haven’t let go of the fact that Han, a favorite character, was killed without Shaw having to face justice. With Han returning in the trailer for F9, it would seem like the perfect opportunity to bring that back up. Han is alive again and there’s a chance for Shaw to have to confront what he’s done. If there’s a time and place to get redemption, it would be here, but that may have to wait for Fast & Furious 10, which Statham could still be a part of.

There’s also the possibility of a Hobbs & Shaw sequel complicating things a bit. There’s still no confirmation of one yet, but given its financial success, it seems like a no-brainer. Statham was a producer for the first Hobbs & Shaw movie and would most likely continue as one for the sequel. This might get in the way of him appearing in future installments of the main franchise, requiring a greater time commitment to be an actor and producer, along with the possibility of further scheduling issues. This points to there being more of a future for Shaw in the spinoff world, though hopefully he can make an appearance in the final installment of the main series. If nothing else, fans (and producers) calling for Justice for Han demand it.