Jason Statham in Talks to Join The FAST AND FURIOUS Franchise

This is how I like to start my morning. According to Twitch, action star Jason Statham is in preliminary discussions with Universal to join Fast Six and potentially Fast Seven, the next two movies in the Fast and Furious franchise.

The report claims both sequels may be shot back-to-back in Europe next year, which makes sense if you stuck around for the post-credits tease in Fast Five. Director Justin Lin, who has shepherded this series since Tokyo Drift, has made Fast Six a priority, putting a new Terminator movie on the back burner and dropping out of a Highlander remake in order to continue a franchise he clearly loves. And fans love it, too - Fast Five made over $600 million and was one of the most enjoyable movies of the summer for me.

As for Statham, it's too early to know anything about a potential character he'd be playing, but with the Fast series moving away from the racing aspects and focusing more on heist elements, it makes sense to get the man involved. He's made a name for himself in the action genre by doing most of his own stunts, including some really impressive driving in The Transporter films, and he's no stranger to heist movies (The Italian Job, The Bank Job, etc). The addition of Dwayne Johnson helped Fast Five tremendously in my opinion - the series was injected with a bit of new life and hopefully Statham can help take this series to the next ridiculous level in the sequels.

Discuss: Does Jason Statham fit into The Fast and Furious universe?