What About Han? 'Fast and Furious' Screenwriter Hints at Some Resolution for the Dearly Departed Team Member

As millions of moviegoers now know, The Fate of the Furious pairs Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson’s Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw on a mission to stop Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto. And at the end of the film [warning: spoilers], Shaw and Toretto make amends, paving the way for Statham’s character to become a quasi member of the squad. But, as many fans are wondering, doesn’t that twist mean that Dom has, in effect, forgiven the formerly villainous Shaw for killing one of his best friends — Sung Kang’s laid-back driver Han?

As you may remember, Shaw is the man responsible for Han’s death in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift — although, in the twisted timeline of the series, this wasn’t “revealed” until the end of Fast & Furious 6. A new piece in the Los Angeles Times addresses this perplexing about-face for Dom, who’s nothing if not consumed with loyalty to family. While it seems like this is a glaring inconsistency, cast and crew members seem to be indicating that perhaps Han will factor in some way in future installments.

Despite fan theories online that Han is still alive, screenwriter and producer Chris Morgan tells the L.A. Times that he did indeed die in Tokyo Drift. But when pressed about whether a #justiceforHan hashtag is necessary, he responded by saying: “I can tell you this: We will definitely be talking more about Han. Look, I am literally the biggest Han/Sung Kang fan in the world. But I would say this: From the initial conceit of Deckard, I’ve never really thought of him as a bad guy. He was definitely against our team, but he’s a guy with a code who loves his family.”

Statham himself was also coy about future revelations, stating about the character’s death scene: “You know, that whole episode has not fully detailed exactly what happened. I’m not going to say anything more than that! But [writer-producer Chris Morgan] likes to annoy the fans and please the fans, and get all these angry protests. So, more to come.”

Could Han reemerge in the franchise? Given that the series has previously twisted timelines and brought Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty back from the dead, it’s not that big a leap. And count us in for any Han or Gisele resurrection.

Read more from Yahoo Movies:

• 4 ‘Fast and Furious’ Spinoffs We’d Actually Want to See

• Let’s Talk About That ‘Fate of the Furious’ Twist (Spoilers!)

• ‘Fast and Furious’ Costume Designer Sanja Hays on the Challenges of Dressing Dom’s Crew