With the recent news that director Justin Lin dropped out of the Highlander reboot and temporarily stepped away from a proposed Terminator sequel in order to concentrate on the sixth film in the Fast & Furious franchise, it’s pretty clear that not only is Universal unwilling to let someone else take over the Fast & Furious series, but they don’t want anything else distracting him either. Considering that Fast Five made a staggering $616 million worldwide, who can blame them for not wanting to mess with the formula? There’s also another possible explanation for his lack of free time, however. We’ve been hearing that they’re hoping to capitalize on the surge in popularity of the series by greenlighting not one but two sequels, and potentially shooting them back to back. On top of that, there’s also a chance that a certain British action star may be joining the cast as well.

According to Twitch, Universal is “entering into preliminary conversations” with Jason Statham to join one or both of the Fast & Furious sequels. They are apparently looking to shift the setting to Europe, and if that is the case, adding Statham makes a lot of sense. Let’s not forget, he became a bonafide star in the U.S. thanks to the success of The Transporter and The Italian Job, two other action-packed heist films based around fast cars.

Although I’m not the biggest fan of the Fast & Furious films, it’s been interesting to watch the progression of the franchise and I’ll be curious to see what the next evolution is. The way things are going, it may end up giving Stallone’s The Expendables a run for its money in terms of being a showcase for an all-star cast of action movie veterans. Are you looking forward to Fast Six and Seven, and will the addition of Jason Statham up the ante even more?