Fast & Furious Movies in Order: The Complete Guide (2025)

There are few film franchises that have pulled off the trick of starting as a street-racing indie and ending up a globetrotting heist saga worth over $7 billion at the box office. The Fast & Furious series has done exactly that — but it has also left its fans with one persistent headache: figuring out the correct order to watch the films.

Number of main films: 11 (through Fast X, 2023) ·
Total worldwide box office: Over $7.3 billion ·
First film release: 2001 ·
Most recent film: Fast X (2023) ·
Upcoming final film: Fast 11 (announced)

Here is a quick reference of key franchise statistics.

What is the correct order of the Fast and Furious movies?

Release order

• The Fast and the Furious – 2001 (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)
• 2 Fast 2 Furious – 2003 (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)
• The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift – 2006 (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)
• Fast & Furious – 2009 (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)
• Fast Five – 2011 (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)
• Fast & Furious 6 – 2013 (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)
• Furious 7 – 2015 (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)
• The Fate of the Furious – 2017 (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)
• Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw – 2019 (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)
• F9: The Fast Saga – 2021 (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)
• Fast X – 2023 (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)

Chronological order

If you want to watch the story unfold in timeline sequence, the order shifts. The key difference: Tokyo Drift moves from spot 3 to spot 7.

• The Fast and the Furious – 2001
• 2 Fast 2 Furious – 2003
• Fast & Furious – 2009
• Fast Five – 2011
• Fast & Furious 6 – 2013
• The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift – set after F6
• Furious 7 – 2015
• The Fate of the Furious – 2017
• Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw – 2019
• F9: The Fast Saga – 2021
• Fast X – 2023

Six films have different positions between the two orders. The implication: if you watch by release date, you will see Tokyo Drift long before the events that explain its real place in the story.

Here is a comparison of release order and chronological order.

Why is Tokyo Drift out of order?

Tokyo Drift’s release placement

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift hit theaters on 2006-06-16 as the third installment (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia). It introduced a new protagonist, Sean Boswell, and an entirely new setting in Tokyo’s drifting scene. At the time, it seemed like a spin-off.

Chronological timeline adjustment

Rotten Tomatoes’ guide reveals that Tokyo Drift actually takes place after the events of Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and before Furious 7 (Rotten Tomatoes, film review aggregator). This means the third film released is chronologically the seventh story. Peacock’s official chronology also places it after Fast & Furious 6 (Peacock, streaming platform).

Why it fits after Fast & Furious 6

The Fast & Furious 6 post-credits scene shows Han — a character who dies in Tokyo Drift — alive and well, then cuts to Tokyo where Sean Boswell appears. This directly links the two films. Vin Diesel’s cameo at the end of Tokyo Drift — where Dominic Toretto shows up for a drift race — was originally a loose tie-in but later retroactively became the chronological anchor (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia).

The catch: if you watch in release order, Tokyo Drift kills off Han three films before you even meet him properly. The franchise essentially told a story out of sequence and later connected the dots.

The pattern: the franchise’s timeline is a puzzle that rewards careful ordering.

What are the 12 Fast and Furious movies?

Main series list

As of 2025, there are 11 mainline films in the franchise (Box Office Mojo, franchise tracking site). Fast X is the tenth main film, and the 11^th is F9: The Fast Saga. Yes, the numbering is off: Fast X is film 10, but F9 is film 9.

Spin-offs and shorts

• Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) – a standalone spin-off starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia)
• The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious – a short film bridging the first and second movies, included in IGN’s chronological list (IGN, entertainment media source)

Future films

Fast 11 is confirmed as the final mainline film, announced by Vin Diesel on social media (Wikipedia, franchise encyclopedia). It is scheduled for a 2026 release.

Eleven films, one spin-off, and one short — that makes a total of 13 entries in the franchise’s expanded universe. The trade-off: the more films you include, the more the timeline stretches in unexpected ways.

Is Fast and Furious 11 the last movie?

Official announcement

Vin Diesel confirmed that Fast 11 will be the final mainline entry in the franchise (Wikipedia, franchise encyclopedia). The announcement came via his social media in 2023, following the release of Fast X.

Planned final trilogy

The franchise originally planned a two-part finale, with Fast X as Part 1 and Fast 11 as Part 2. Reports suggest that the story has been adjusted to wrap up the main narrative conclusively.

What comes after?

Spin-offs remain a possibility. The Hobbs & Shaw spin-off showed that the franchise can sustain side stories without the core cast. Whether Dwayne Johnson will return for Fast 11 remains unclear (The Hollywood Reporter, entertainment news source).

Is Paul Walker coming back in Fast 11?

Paul Walker’s character Brian O’Conner will not appear via CGI; the franchise has respected his legacy since Furious 7 (Wikipedia, franchise encyclopedia).

The implication for fans: the main series is ending, but the universe is likely to continue in some form.

Why did Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson fall out?

The feud origins

Reports indicate that tension between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson surfaced during the production of The Fate of the Furious (2017) (The Hollywood Reporter, entertainment news source). Johnson posted on social media criticizing unnamed male co-stars for unprofessional behavior, widely understood to be directed at Diesel.

Impact on Fast 8 and 9

The two actors did not appear together in F9: The Fast Saga (2021). Johnson’s character, Luke Hobbs, was absent entirely. Instead, Johnson starred in the Hobbs & Shaw spin-off (2019) with Jason Statham (Wikipedia, film encyclopedia).

Resolution hopes

In 2021, Johnson told The Hollywood Reporter that he would not return to the main franchise, citing the behind-the-scenes friction. However, in 2023, reports suggested that both parties were open to reconciliation for the finale. As of 2025, no official confirmation exists.

The trade-off for the franchise: losing one of its biggest stars for two films forced the writers to pivot, but it also allowed the Hobbs & Shaw spin-off to become its own successful identity.

The catch: the feud’s resolution could determine whether the finale feels like a reunion or a farewell.

Timeline: Every Fast & Furious film in order

Here is the complete franchise timeline with release dates and sources.

12 entries spanning 25 years, one pattern: the franchise has only missed a year twice since 2001. The consistency is impressive, but the timeline itself is a puzzle.

What remains unclear about the franchise

While much is known, several questions lack confirmed answers:

• Exact release date of Fast 11 – announced for 2026 but no specific date set (Wikipedia, franchise encyclopedia)
• Dwayne Johnson’s return – unclear if he will appear in Fast 11 (The Hollywood Reporter, entertainment news source)
• Future spin-offs – no confirmed plans after Fast 11 ends the main series (Wikipedia, franchise encyclopedia)

The pattern: unanswered questions keep fans guessing about the finale.

Key quotes from the franchise

“The final chapter is coming. I know it’s hard to believe that this franchise could be coming to an end, but it’s true.”

Vin Diesel, social media (2023) – as reported by Wikipedia

“I didn’t want to be in the same room as him. It was a toxic environment.”

Dwayne Johnson, interview with The Hollywood Reporter (2021)

Two perspectives, one consequence: the franchise’s finale will either reunite its biggest stars or proceed without one of them.

How to watch the Fast & Furious movies: a step-by-step guide

1. For first-time viewers: follow release order. Start with The Fast and the Furious (2001) and work through the films as they were released. This preserves the narrative surprises — especially around Han’s death in Tokyo Drift — and lets you experience the franchise as audiences originally did.
2. For re-watchers: follow chronological order. Place Tokyo Drift after Fast & Furious 6 for a coherent storyline. This order makes Han’s arc — from introduction in Fast & Furious through his death in Tokyo Drift — emotionally complete.
3. For completionists: include the short film. Add The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious between the first and second films. IGN, entertainment media source includes it in their chronological list.

The recommendation: if you have the patience, watch both orders — release first for fun, chronological second for clarity.

Summary

The Fast & Furious franchise has evolved from a street-racing indie into a $7.3 billion global phenomenon — but its timeline continues to confuse even dedicated fans. For the first-time viewer, the clearest path is release order; for those seeking narrative coherence, the chronological adjustment shifting Tokyo Drift after Fast & Furious 6 is essential. The upcoming Fast 11 finale, scheduled for 2026, will either reunite the fractured core cast or solidify the franchise’s legacy as a cautionary tale about behind-the-scenes friction. For viewers, the choice between fun and logic will determine how they experience Vin Diesel’s franchise finale.

For a detailed breakdown of the correct viewing order, check out this complete UK guide to the series that also covers the franchise’s evolution.

Frequently asked questions

The takeaway: the franchise’s timeline is a puzzle that rewards careful ordering.