Tyrese Gibson has teased a return to the Fast & Furious series’ foundation with Fast X, but the structure of the franchise makes that impossible.

Tyrese Gibson’s promise of Fast X returning to where the Fast & Furious series began is at odds with the very nature of the series itself. The in-production, though, arguably mistitled Fast X, will be part one of the Fast Saga’s planned two-part finale. While the audience’s expectations lie squarely in how Fast X might surpass the bonkers stunts and stakes of F9, Tyrese Gibson’s latest comments tease something more counterintuitive.

Tyrese Gibson commented in a recent Instagram video alongside Vin Diesel, “The fans have been wanting over the years for us to get back to the roots of what we know and love about Fast. We’ve heard you. And we’re doing it.” Gibson didn’t specify what that would mean, so it’s hard to fully ascertain exactly what he could be referring to other than the franchise’s street racing origins seen in The Fast & the Furious. The problem is that that goes against the entire concept of what the Fast Saga is.

The Fast & Furious series has revamped massively from The Fast and the Furious to the franchise turning point in Fast Five and beyond, with each installment gradually increasing the volume of the action and scope of the franchise. Especially since Fast Five, each Fast & Furious movie has since been all about topping the absurdity of the one before it. While the franchise was past the point of no return in that respect long before 2021’s F9, that chapter of the series was the most patently over-the-top entry yet, literally taking the Fast Saga to space.

For the Fast & Furious series to revert to the low stakes crime and street racing foundation it was built from isn’t simply a matter of shortchanging the audience from the superhero transformation of the modern Fast Saga. Just trying to do so can’t help but look like a tone shift that’s outright impossible to pull off. In a summer blockbuster action movie franchise whose unmistakable trademark is going to more and more outrageous heights, a street racing-based Fast X would be the definition of a regression.

Theories have circulated that the Fast Saga might venture into time-travel as its next frontier of embracing its ridiculousness without comment, including theories that a trip back to the pre-Fast Five movies could be on the table. Hypothetically, this could be what Gibson was referring to as a return to the series’ roots in Fast X. This could also be bolstered somewhat by the X-Men-like Fast X logo, which is hardly indicative of a down-to-Earth story in the vein of The Fast & the Furious.

Without a full picture of what Fast X has in store, Gibson’s comment remains open to interpretation. Whatever the case may be, going back to the roots of The Fast and the Furious is a night and day goal from the momentum of the Fast & Furious series. With anything less than time travel involved, Fast X working with the parameters of the early Fast & Furious series seems like an exercise in futility.

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