The 'Fast And The Furious' Timeline Explained: How To Watch The Whole Franchise

USA Network is home to a lot of great movies and TV shows. However, there is perhaps no larger-than-life action franchise in existence right now than the Vin Diesel-led thrill ride that is “Fast and the Furious.”

Since getting its start in 2001, the movies have gotten progressively more outrageous as more eyes turn to the franchise to see how it’ll top itself wth each new installment. However, despite being one of the more approachable movie franchises in existence today, there is one element to the “Fast and the Furious” universe that still vexes more casual fans — the timeline. 

Like a lot of large franchises, “Fast and the Furious” was forced to play fast and loose with its timeline in order to get a key character into the mix. So, to help people who want to dive into the action, we thought it’d be a good idea to fully explain how the story’s timeline works. 

Release Order

OK, so the first thing to know is that the movies came out in the order they’re intended to be viewed. While the timeline gets a little crazy, the best thing to do is still to watch them in the order they came out. 

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That’s somewhat easier said than done. The franchise likes to play around with its titles so that it’s not as simple as sticking a new number at the end of each one. So far nine movies have come out all with different title structures (who knew an ampersand could do such heavy lifting?) So the way to watch is as follows: 

“The Fast and the Furious”
“2 Fast 2 Furious”
“Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” 
“Fast & Furious”
“Fast Five”
“Fast & Furious 6”
“Furious 7”
“The Fate of the Furious”
“F9”

The Han Paradox

Photo: Getty Images

Here is where things get complicated. [SPOILER ALERT.]

In “Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” the world is introduced to the character Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang). He helps Lucas Black (Sean Boswell) get into the underground world of drift racing and the duo run at odds against a local gang. At some point, a massive chase ensues and Han is “killed” in a “car accident."

The movie ends with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) showing up in Tokyo and revealing he was Han’s friend and is looking for some answers about his death.

So, in “Fast Five,” when Toretto needed to assemble an all-star team to pull off a huge job in Brazil, fans were shocked to see Han show up as one of the family’s founding new members. That’s right, it turns out the fifth movie in the franchise takes place before Han’s “death” in the third movie, making it a prequel of sorts.

Han shows up again in “Fast & Furious 6” looking decidedly not dead. So, that movie is also a prequel to the third. In fact, it’s not until the seventh movie that the timeline catches up. 

In “Furious 7,” master assassin Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) shows up and reveals he’s got a bone to pick with Toretto’s family after they kicked his brother’s ass in the sixth movie. 

It is revealed he starts his tour of revenge by causing the wreck in “Tokyo Drift” that leads to Han’s “death.” It’s later revealed there was a lot more at play during that car "accident" than even that, but that’s another story for another time. 

Basically, after Shaw appears in “Furious 7” and causes Han’s wreck, the movies have officially resolved what we’re calling the “Han Paradox,” and the timeline moves like normal through the eighth, ninth and (presumably) upcoming tenth installments. So, for those looking to watch the franchise in its chronological timeline order, it goes as follows: 

“The Fast and the Furious”
“2 Fast 2 Furious”
“Fast & Furious”
“Fast Five”
“Fast & Furious 6”
“Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”
“Furious 7”
“The Fate of the Furious”
“F9”

You can catch most of the franchise on USA Network as well as Peacock right now.