17 Crazy Facts You Just Have To Accept To Enjoy The Fast & Furious Franchise

11. No Paul Walker, Almost No Vin Diesel (Tokyo Drift)

The Fast and Furious franchise hit stormy waters in its third time up to bat, with neither Vin Diesel nor Paul Walker, the series' stars, wanting to reprise their roles, likely because they felt that they could "do better" and move onto more lucrative, acclaimed movies. This led to the third film, Tokyo Drift, becoming a spin-off movie, set in Tokyo and dealing largely with drift racing, while introducing a much-younger protagonist, in high schooler Sean Boswell (Lucas Black). Though Diesel didn't appear in 2 Fast 2 Furious either, the lack of Walker really dampened a lot of enthusiasm for the movie, and though it's the lowest-grossing of the six movies, it did still rack up $158 million at the box office, which isn't half bad. Perhaps sensing that his post-Furious movie career hadn't been as fruitful as he was hoping, Diesel did agree to appear in cameo form in the movie's final scene, reportedly waiving his fee in order to obtain the rights to the Riddick franchise (which led to the eventual reboot-sequel last year). While the sixth film did help bring Tokyo Drift back into the fold, and it's easily the most interesting film in the series in terms of car culture, it's also the black sheep of the family, the one that casual fans of the franchise will usually miss out when revisiting the series.