Like a silver screen comic book run, the Fast Saga has built a successful franchise around the practice of retroactive continuity. Characters are tragically killed off and later resurrected, while others are revealed to have been lurking in the peripheral the entire time.

This longstanding tradition of recontextualisation will continue in this summer’s Fast X, which kicks off with a Rashoman-style flashback to the iconic vault heist in Fast Five from the perspective of Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa), son of South American drug-lord Hernan Reyes. Fueled by pure spite — and perhaps just a little bit of nitrous oxide — Dante has studied Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) for years, plotting his revenge against the man’s ever-growing family.

“The last movie really delved into that, and dictated, of course, the reveal of the brother [Jakob, played by John Cena],” Diesel explained during an interview with Total Film for the magazine’s April 2023 issue (now on sale). “In that line of thinking, there is so much un-mined territory within the films that, when you follow the storyline, it produces a really interesting and rewarding story. You’ll see as the finale pans out, it’ll make sense why, in the same way we went back to the first film for Fast 9, we went back to the fifth film for Fast X.”

Justin Lin and Dan Mazeau penned the screenplay for the penultimate chapter in the blockbuster property. Lin bowed out as director last year — though he did remain aboard the project in a producing role — and was replaced by Louis Leterrier (of The Transporter and The Incredible Hulk fame), who also wanted to reach back into the recesses of established Fast & Furious lore.

“As a fan, there’s some stuff that I really wanted back from the franchise — the street races were one,” the director said. “That’s the fun of it all: when you’re the head of a movie [series] that you’ve admired and have been a fan of for so many years, you get to bring your fantasies to life!”

Neal H. Moritz, Vin Diesel, Jeff Kirschenbaum, and Samantha Vincent are also producers. Joseph M. Caracciolo, Jr., David Cain, Chris Morgan, Amanda Lewis, and Mark Bomback serve as executive producers.

Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, John Cena, Jason Statham, Sung Kang, Alan Ritchson, Daniela Melchior, Scott Eastwood, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Brie Larson, Rita Moreno, and Leo Abelo Perry co-star.

Fast X zooms onto the big screen Friday, May 19.