The best way to watch the Fast & Furious movies in order is by story, not by release date. The one film out of place is The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. It came out third, in 2006, but its events take place after Fast & Furious 6. The series has 11 feature films in all — ten main installments and the spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.
Below you’ll find the order for a first watch with short notes, the release order for a rewatch marathon, the short films and the animated series, plus what Universal has officially announced about the next film, Fast Forever.
All the Fast & Furious movies in story order
In this order the events follow one another, and characters show up when you need to know who they are. Hobbs & Shaw sits where its story takes place, but you can skip it.
| # | Movie | Release year | What matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Fast and the Furious | 2001 | Cop Brian goes undercover in Toretto’s crew |
| 2 | 2 Fast 2 Furious | 2003 | Brian and Roman Pearce undercover in Miami |
| 3 | Fast & Furious | 2009 | Dom and Brian team up against a drug lord |
| 4 | Fast Five | 2011 | A heist in Rio and agent Luke Hobbs |
| 5 | Fast & Furious 6 | 2013 | Hobbs recruits the crew against Owen Shaw’s gang |
| 6 | The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift | 2006 | Sean Boswell and street drifting in Tokyo |
| 7 | Furious 7 | 2015 | Deckard Shaw takes revenge for his brother |
| 8 | The Fate of the Furious | 2017 | Cipher forces Dom to turn on his own |
| 9 | Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw | 2019 | A spin-off about Hobbs and Shaw; skippable |
| 10 | F9 | 2021 | Dom faces his younger brother Jakob |
| 11 | Fast X | 2023 | Dante Reyes avenges his father; open ending |
Why Tokyo Drift comes after Fast & Furious 6
Tokyo Drift has little to do with the first two films. It has a new lead, high schooler Sean Boswell, who is sent to live with his father in Tokyo to stay out of prison. There he discovers drifting and meets Han, while Dominic Toretto appears only at the very end, in a Vin Diesel cameo.
When the series went back to Dom and Brian, Han became part of their crew: he’s in Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6, and all three are set before Tokyo. At the end of the sixth film Han is about to leave for Tokyo, and Furious 7 picks up both the sixth film and the ending of Tokyo Drift. That’s why, on a first watch, the third film released is best moved to sixth place.
How the saga changes from film to film
Over 22 years, Fast & Furious went from street racing movies to spy action films with operations all over the world. The series splits neatly into three stages.
Street racing: the first four films
From 2001 to 2009 the series was about illegal racing, tuned cars and undercover work: The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Tokyo Drift and Fast & Furious (2009). The only main-series film without Dominic Toretto is 2 Fast 2 Furious, which centers on Brian and his childhood friend Roman Pearce.
Heists and special ops: films five through eight
With Fast Five, the series shifts to heists and spy missions. A permanent crew forms around Dom, agent Luke Hobbs enters the story, and the action moves from Rio de Janeiro to London and on around the world. In The Fate of the Furious the crew has to go up against Dom himself, after the cyberterrorist Cipher forces him to work for her.
The final story: films nine and ten
The latest films center on the Toretto family again. In F9 Dom gains a younger brother, Jakob, and in Fast X the crew is hunted by Dante Reyes, the son of Hernan Reyes, whom the crew robbed in Fast Five. Universal promoted Fast X as the beginning of the end of the saga, and its story breaks off at the tensest moment: Fast Forever will show how it ends.
Do you need to watch Hobbs & Shaw?
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is the series’ only feature-length spin-off. Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw can’t stand each other, but they team up with Shaw’s sister Hattie to stop the cybernetically enhanced terrorist Brixton and keep a deadly virus out of his hands. It takes place two years after The Fate of the Furious, so it fits neatly between the eighth and ninth films.
It isn’t essential to the main story: Dominic Toretto doesn’t appear in it, and F9 and Fast X make sense without it. Watch it if you enjoy the bickering between Hobbs and Shaw — the whole film runs on it.
Release order
Release order works best for a rewatch: it shows how the series changed genre and scale. Tokyo Drift comes third in it.
2001
The Fast and the Furious
The start of the series: street racing in Los Angeles
2003
2 Fast 2 Furious
The only main-series entry without Dominic Toretto
2006
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
Released third, but set after Fast & Furious 6
2009
Fast & Furious
Dom and Brian return
2011
Fast Five
The turn toward heist movies and Hobbs’s first appearance
2013
Fast & Furious 6
The credits scene leads to Tokyo Drift and Furious 7
2015
Furious 7
Paul Walker’s last film as Brian
2017
The Fate of the Furious
The first entry without Brian and Mia since Tokyo Drift
2019
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
A spin-off set after The Fate of the Furious
2021
F9
Its premiere was pushed back from 2020 because of the pandemic
2023
Fast X
The start of the final story
March 17, 2028
Fast Forever
The announced finale; U.S. release date per Universal
For the series’ 25th anniversary, Universal brought the first film back to theaters: in Ukraine the re-release began on September 10, 2026, handled by B&H Film Distribution.
Other big franchises pose the same choice between chronology and release order — we’ve covered it for Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and X-Men.
Short films and the animated series
Besides the 11 feature films, Fast & Furious has two short films and an animated series. You don’t need them for the main story, but they add to it.
- The Turbo Charged Prelude (2003) — a six-minute film about what happened to Brian between the first and second movies.
- Los Bandoleros (2009) — a 20-minute prelude to Fast & Furious (2009), directed by Vin Diesel himself: Dom and his crew in the Dominican Republic.
- Fast & Furious Spy Racers (2019–2021) — a six-season DreamWorks Animation series for Netflix in which teenager Tony Toretto and his friends are recruited for a spy mission in illegal street racing.
What we know about the next film
The eleventh film in the main saga is called Fast Forever, informally Fast & Furious 11. Universal has set its U.S. theatrical release for March 17, 2028. There’s no Ukrainian release date yet.
Vin Diesel, the series’ star and one of its producers, calls Fast Forever the last film of the main story. The project used to be called the second part of Fast X — Fast X: Part 2. Universal’s page has no plot description or trailer yet, so rewatching Fast X is all the prep you need before the premiere.
Sources and methodology
Analysis of public sourcesChecked 22 September 2026
- Universal Pictures — Fast Forever, release date universalpictures.com
- B&H Film Distribution — The Fast and the Furious re-release in Ukraine bhfilms.com.ua
- B&H Film Distribution — Fast X in Ukraine bhfilms.com.ua
- Netflix — Fast & Furious Spy Racers netflix.com
FAQ
How many Fast & Furious movies are there?
There are 11 feature films: ten main installments from 2001 to 2023 and the 2019 spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. The twelfth will be Fast Forever, which Universal releases in the U.S. on March 17, 2028.
When should I watch Tokyo Drift?
After Fast & Furious 6 and before Furious 7. It came out third, in 2006, but its events take place after the sixth film, and the seventh picks up its ending.
Can I skip Hobbs & Shaw?
Yes. It’s a spin-off without Dominic Toretto, and the main story makes sense without it. If you do watch it, put it between The Fate of the Furious and F9.
Do I need to watch the Fast & Furious short films?
Not really. The Turbo Charged Prelude (2003) shows what happened to Brian between the first and second films, and Los Bandoleros (2009) is a prelude to Fast & Furious (2009). The feature films make sense without them.
When is Fast & Furious 11 coming out?
The eleventh film is called Fast Forever. Universal has set its U.S. release for March 17, 2028; a Ukrainian release date hasn’t been announced yet.
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