Fast & Furious Movies in Order: Release Order, Chronological Order and Where Fast Forever Fits

Watch the Fast & Furious movies in release order: The Fast and the Furious (2001), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021) and Fast X (2023). Hobbs & Shaw (2019) is a spin-off that slots in between Fate and F9. That is ten main films plus one spin-off, and release order is the right choice for a first watch.

The only real complication is Tokyo Drift. It was released third, but the story places it after Fast & Furious 6, and Furious 7 picks up from its ending.

Fast & Furious movies in release order

Dates are US theatrical releases. Release dates in other countries can differ; Fast & Furious 6, for example, opened in the UK a week before its US date. This guide does not check where each film streams, which varies by country.

Fast & Furious in chronological order

If you want the story in the order events happen, use this sequence:

1. The Fast and the Furious
2. 2 Fast 2 Furious
3. Fast & Furious, set before Tokyo Drift
4. Fast Five
5. Fast & Furious 6, the last film set before Tokyo Drift
6. Tokyo Drift
7. Furious 7, which continues from the end of Tokyo Drift
8. The Fate of the Furious
9. Hobbs & Shaw, set after Fate
10. F9, set two years after Fate
11. Fast X, set two years after F9

The reason is Han. Tokyo Drift shows Sung Kang’s character in Tokyo, and the franchise later brought him back for the 2009 film, which is set earlier. The mid-credits scene of Fast & Furious 6 then shows Deckard Shaw hitting Han with a car, the crash seen in Tokyo Drift. According to Wikipedia, the timeline was altered to account for Han’s appearance in the earlier films, and F9 later reveals that he survived.

Which order should you choose?

First-time viewers: use release order. The characters, rivalries and recurring faces build gradually, and Tokyo Drift works as a standalone story that gets context later. Watching it fourth or fifth would give away how Han’s story ends before Fast & Furious 6 plays that scene.

Rewatchers: try the chronological order above. Moving Tokyo Drift to just before Furious 7 makes the Han thread read as one run from the 2009 film through to F9.

Short on time: Fast Five is a heist film that the later entries build on, so it is a reasonable starting point for the modern version of the series. If you want a shorter catch-up, start with Fast & Furious (2009) and continue through Fast X; the first three films mainly set up the characters.

Where Hobbs & Shaw fits

Hobbs & Shaw, directed by David Leitch, is a spin-off pairing Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw against the villain Brixton Lore. It is set after The Fate of the Furious and was released between that film and F9. You do not need it to follow the main series. Watch it after Fate if you want everything in order, or skip it without losing the core story.

Short films and the animated series

Two short films fill gaps:

• The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious (June 3, 2003), a six-minute short covering Brian O’Conner’s trip before he reaches Miami.
• Los Bandoleros (July 28, 2009), a roughly 20-minute short directed by Vin Diesel, set between the first film and Fast & Furious. It shows Dominic Toretto in the Dominican Republic and leads directly into the 2009 film’s opening.

Fast & Furious Spy Racers is a Netflix animated series from DreamWorks Animation Television that premiered on December 26, 2019, and ran for six seasons. It follows Dom’s cousin Tony Toretto and sits outside the main story, so treat it as optional.

F9 and the director’s cut

F9 was released in the US on June 25, 2021. Its Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray and DVD releases on September 21, 2021 included both the theatrical version and a director’s cut that runs about seven minutes longer. Either version works for a catch-up watch.

Fast X and the cliffhanger

Fast X, directed by Louis Leterrier, was released in the US on May 19, 2023. It was originally planned as the first half of a finale and ends on a cliffhanger: Dante, played by Jason Momoa, sets off explosives on a dam while Dom and his son are on it, and a mid-credits scene has him naming Luke Hobbs as his next target. The story does not resolve in Fast X, so the series does not end on the tenth film.

Fast Forever: what is known

As of November 6, 2026, the confirmed facts are limited. Universal lists Fast Forever, the eleventh and final main film, for March 17, 2028, according to Syfy Wire. Louis Leterrier remains the director attached. Michael Lesslie is reported to have taken over the script from Zach Dean in March 2026, and Vin Diesel has praised the screenplay.

Several points are still reported rather than confirmed:

• Filming: Diesel told Variety that shooting begins in December “if I can make good on the request from the studio,” as Dark Horizons reported on August 18, 2026. That is a plan, not a confirmed start date.
• Script: Leterrier said he had not yet read the final script, while Diesel has said he has.
• Budget: Leterrier acknowledged the series has to adjust its budget to the realities of the modern box office. Nothing official about a final figure has been announced.

Beyond the films, Peacock has ordered a live-action series with a 2028 target, as covered in our report on the Fast & Furious TV series. A planned release window for the show is not the same as a confirmed date.

Other franchises to catch up on

If you are working through other long-running action series, our guides to the John Wick movies in order, the Mission: Impossible movies in order, the Terminator movies in order and the Predator movies in order follow the same release-versus-story format. For another big-budget franchise with a tangled chronology, see the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies in order.

FAQ

What order should I watch the Fast & Furious movies in?

Release order: The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious, F9 and Fast X, with Hobbs & Shaw between Fate and F9.

Where does Tokyo Drift fit in the timeline?

After Fast & Furious 6. Its events are shown in that film’s mid-credits scene, and Furious 7 continues from its ending.

Do I need to watch Hobbs & Shaw?

No. It is a spin-off set after The Fate of the Furious. You can follow the main series without it.

How many Fast & Furious movies are there?

Ten main films have been released, plus the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw. The eleventh, Fast Forever, is scheduled for March 17, 2028.

Does Fast X end the story?

No. It ends on a cliffhanger, and the story is meant to continue in Fast Forever.