As the Fast & Furious franchise has evolved from undercover cop drag race movies into globetrotting, multicultural heist flicks, it has gained and lost cast members and directors. There’s really only been on constant: Writer Chris Morgan, who has written every Fast movie since 2006’s The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift.

That is apparently about to change, as Variety says they’ve learned Morgan will not write Fast & Furious 9, because he is currently writing and producing Hobbs and Shaw, the spinoff film from the main Fast series that will star Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. Morgan will be replaced by Daniel Casey.

“Fast 9” will be directed by Justin Lin, who helmed four of the “Fast” movies. Lin is returning to the franchise after sitting out the seventh and eighth installments. Vin Diesel is set to return as the star in the project that is slotted for a April 2020 release.

I don’t know any of the behind-the-scenes details, but from the outside it’s very interesting if Morgan had any choice in the matter and he wound up making the Hobbs and Shaw spinoff instead of continuing his six-film streak on the main Fast series. You would almost always assume the opposite would happen; traditionally the spinoffs get other voices and the core creators stick with the main franchise. But perhaps the combined star power of Johnson and Statham make this an exception that proves the rule. At least Fast 9 gets Justin Lin. That should provide some continuity.

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