Netflix has revealed a first-look image and cast for its upcoming animated series, Fast and Furious: Spy Racers. The street-racing family drama turn-international thriller franchise is getting a CGI animated spin-off show and is set to begin streaming from 26 December. A teaser trailer was released earlier this year.
Fast and Furious: The Spy Racers franchise will be executive produced by Vin Diesel, writer Chris Morgan, and producer Neil H. Mortiz, who has collaborated on every film since 2009’s Fast and Furious. Joining him are DreamWorks listeners Tim Hendrick (Voltron Legendary Defender) and Brett Helland (All Hail King Julian). This will be the pair’s first project based on the PG-13 franchise, as DreamWorks’ previous Netflix spin-off has so far remained within the scope of the company’s popular animated titles.
Fast and Furious: Spy Racers
The show’s plot will follow Tony Toretto, the teenage cousin of franchise lead Dom Toretto (Diesel), as he and his friends are recruited by the government to be run by an international crime league, a rogue called A1FT3R The crime is run by a syndicate, with Libra ruling the world.
The cast will feature Tyler Posey (star of MTV’s Teen Wolf) as Tony, Camille Ramsay (American Vandal) as Laila Gray, Luke Youngblood (Harry Potter) as the famous 13-year-old tech prodigy Frosty Benson. George Diaz (Jane the Virgin) as Shale Chung (Overwatch) and the kind-hearted Cisco Renaldo as artist/detective Echo.
It is part of an initiative by Universal to mold the Fast and Furious series into a larger multimedia franchise to compete with the likes of Marvel Cinematic Universe. This year, the studio unveiled the first of several planned sequels and spin-offs, Dwayne Johnson / Jason Stratham vehicles Hobbs and Shaw, which could not expand in the ways of the main series in the world of movies.
In addition to this animated spy racers spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw director David Leach is expected to receive a live-action Fast and Furious series sometime soon. For now, only time will tell if Fast and Furious: Spy Racers can recreate the spectacle and excitement of their home franchise for younger audiences, but the credibility of those involved in the production is a promising start.
Voltron: Legendary Defender was a major installment of the much-loved Waltron franchise, and All Hell King Julian remains a popular staple of Netflix’s animated library, so it’s safe to say the show is in good hands.
Also, the plot seems to invite subsequent films with a team going against an international crime organization, yet the focus on racing goes back to the early days of the franchise. With luck, fans can get the best of both worlds when the series streams this December.