Michelle Rodriguez Officially Reboards 'Fast & Furious' Franchise
Michelle Rodriguez is officially back for "Fast and Furious 9" after the production committed to hiring its first female screenwriter.
The actress made headlines in June 2017 when she threatened, via an Instagram post, to leave the franchise unless producers showed “some love to the women of the franchise on the next one.”
"I felt like there was not enough of a female voice in the franchise,” Rodriguez said May 16 at the Bloomberg Future of Equality Summit in London, Bloomburg reports. "You should evolve with the times, not just pander to certain demographics that are stuck [in the past]."
Rodriguez has been playing Leticia "Letty" Ortiz since the first "The Fast and Furious" in 2001. Her character was presumably killed off in 2009's "Fast & Furious," but later revealed to be alive and returned in 2013's "Fast & Furious 6."
No woman has yet directed a film in the franchise, but they did have their first female villain with Charlize Theron in "The Fate of the Furious."
And the studio recently announced that it is developing a female-led"Furious" spinoff, which will be written by three women: Nicole Perlman, Lindsey Beer, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. It's not known if this spinoff will feature existing characters or introduce new ones.
The woman who ends up being hired per Rodriguez's agreement will be the first to help write the main series.
[Via IndieWire]