Fast And Furious Characters Who Only Showed Up In One Movie
The "Fast & Furious" franchise has built itself on cameos and returning characters. And as the first part of the series finale begins with "Fast X," more familiar faces are coming back than ever. Entering its final chapter, the franchise is pulling out all the stops, building the family bigger than ever before.
While we shouldn't expect to see Dwayne Johnson return to "Fast & Furious" anytime soon, his "Hobbs & Shaw" co-star Jason Statham has continued to build the story of his Deckard Shaw character. In case you missed it, Johnson and Vin Diesel had a massive fued that resulted in both making various public statements regarding their relationship. Johnson told Entertainment Tonight in 2017 that he and Diesel have "different fundamental philosophies," though the two have continued to go back and forth since then. Johnson has officially left the franchise in his rearview, but the hole he left has been filled by other stars, including fellow former wrestler John Cena.
There are plenty of actors who've been willing to return to the streets of "Fast & Furious" over the years. For example, "Fast X" is bringing back Sung Kang's Han (again), Cena's Jakob Toretto, Charlize Theron's Cipher, and Scott Eastwood's Little Nobody, among others. It feels like there's hardly anyone left to bring back. Except, that's not really the case. There's been a handful of "Fast & Furious" characters who have only shown up in one movie — and we're breaking them all down below.
Carter Verone
Starting off this list is an actor who's recently been on everyone's mind thanks to his amazing performance as Rip Wheeler in "Yellowstone." Cole Hauser plays the villain Carter Verone in "2 Fast 2 Furious." He's a local Miami drug lord whom the U.S. Customs agents are trying to take down. They embed one of their agents, Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes), undercover in the hopes of doing just that. But after she's been undercover for a year, they're still unsuccessful. Therefore, U.S. Customs decides to take alternative measures to get the job done.
That's where the late Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner comes in. By this point, Brian's lost his badge after the events of "The Fast and the Furious" when he let Dom Toretto go free. He's since relocated to Miami and spends his time street racing. However, all that changes when Brian's old boss approaches him with a deal — help take down Verone, and the government will clear his record.
He does what they ask with the help of his childhood friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson). By the end of the film, Brian and Roman team up with Monica to stop Verone and watch as he gets arrested. Roman happily gloats as Verone's hauled off, with Brian claiming that eventually, he'll get out of jail and come looking for them. However, this never happens, and the franchise seemingly forgets all about the villain's existence. At least we get a glimpse of Monica once more in a post-credits scene in "Fast Five."
Leon
In "The Fast and the Furious," Brian works for the LAPD and is assigned an undercover mission to infiltrate a local group of street racers. His mission is to investigate Dom Toretto and his crew of misfit drivers. The police are working with an FBI task force who believe that Dom's crew is responsible for a handful of thefts in the area.
This leads Brian to Dom and his team, which consists of his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), and his friends Vince (Matt Schulze), Jesse (Chad Lindberg), and Leon (Johnny Strong). Through them, Brian also meets and falls for Dom's sister Mia (Jordana Brewster). However, once the heat gets too high, Dom is forced to make a run for it with Letty by his side. Jesse is sadly killed in the emotional climax of the film, and Vince is airlifted to a hospital. Eventually, Dom, Mia, and Brian see Vince again living in Rio de Janeiro with his wife and baby in "Fast Five." However, Leon is never seen or heard from again. This is strange, since the franchise is built on the backbone of family, and Leon was once part of Dom's family from a very young age. It's odd that they've never crossed paths since "The Fast and the Furious." In fact, it's almost like Leon never even existed.
Johnny Tran
Johnny Tran is one of the main villains in "The Fast and the Furious." He gets entangled with Brian when he and Dom are caught driving in Tran's territory. As his crew surrounds Brian and Dom, they blow up their car as a warning not to cross their border again. The rivalry between Dom and Tran seems to run deep, as they're both out to prove that they're the best street racer in L.A.
As Brian gets closer to Mia, Dom, and the crew, he desperately wants them not to be the criminals he's meant to investigate. Therefore, he spends the majority of his time looking into Tran and his crew. When he gives some evidence to support his theory, the FBI decides to go through with an arrest. However, it doesn't stick, as thieves were always Dom and his crew. Brian just didn't want to see it.
Once he's released, Tran takes part in a race against Jesse, the youngest and least experienced driver in Dom's crew. Jesse wagers his dad's car, believing that he'll win. Unfortunately, he doesn't, and instead of giving Tran the car, he drives away distraught. This causes Tran to retaliate, doing a drive-by at Dom's house and killing Jesse. Dom and Brian chase Tran, who seems to die after being shot. But if there's one thing this franchise is good at, it's bringing people back to life. Why not do that with Tran? He's a great character we'd like to see more of.
Lance
Lance (Reggie Lee) is Johnny Tran's cousin and right-hand man. While he doesn't have much to do other than stand around and act as Tran's yes-man, he is partially responsible for Jesse's death, as he's part of the drive-by shooting that kills him in "The Fast and the Furious." When Dom chases after Tran to get revenge, it's strange that he doesn't seem to be concerned with Lance.
Right before Jesse is murdered, Brian and Dom are hashing it out about Brian being a cop. He tells Brian that he can't run because he has to look out for Jesse, knowing that Tran will come after him. And then, like clockwork, he does.
Once Jesse is dead, Brian knows that Dom is going to try to kill Tran. As a cop, he can't have that, so he chases after him to stop Dom from committing murder. While it's somewhat unclear if Tran is dead or not, Dom certainly leaves Lance alive, as he simply knocks him off of his motorcycle. Dom even gets out of his car to check to see if Lance is alive before driving off to chase after Tran. With Lance alive, there could have been a potential for him to take revenge on Dom and his family for what they did to his cousin. Alas, we'll never know, as Lance is never heard from again.
Suki
Suki (Devon Aoki) is introduced in "2 Fast 2 Furious." She's a friend of Brian and Tej (Ludacris) and a talented street racer. Suki is a free-spirited character who seems to get along with most people she comes across. She and Tej also have a flirtatious relationship that isn't fully explored in the film.
For someone who's such good friends with Brian and has proven her loyalty, it's surprising that Suki has never popped back up. She's a talented driver, a smart mechanic and engineer, and she can think on her feet. Plus, she already has a set relationship with Brian, Tej, and Roman. It would have been a no-brainer to bring Suki back, and it seems like a missed opportunity. Suki would have made a great addition to the later movies, as her lighthearted nature would be a welcome balance to the overly dramatic attitude that the franchise has adopted.
That being said, Aoki hasn't done much film acting since her peak in the early 2000s. Aside from "2 Fast 2 Furious" (which was released in 2003), Aoki appeared in films like "Sin City" in 2005, "D.E.B.S" in 2004, and the video game adaption "DOA: Dead or Alive" in 2006. Prior to that, Aoki enjoyed a successful career as a model — work that she has continued in more recent years. It seems that she simply isn't that interested in the big screen anymore, which may be why Suki has never returned.
Elle
"F9: The Fast Saga" brought director Justin Lin back into the driver's seat of the "Fast & Furious" franchise. Lin directed four previous films before taking a step back for "Furious 7" and "The Fate of the Furious." Lin also directed the unofficial "Fast & Furious" prequel "Better Luck Tomorrow" that first introduced Han, So it's only natural that when Lin returned to the franchise, he brought Han back from the dead along with him
Han was seemingly murdered in "Tokyo Drift" by Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw. However, with Shaw getting a redemption arc, it no longer made sense for him to be Han's murderer. He had to come back, but the question of where he'd been loomed large. "F9" explains that Han faked his death with the help of intelligence operative Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell). Han began working for Mr. Nobody as part of his covert ops team upon learning that his late girlfriend Gisele (Gal Gadot) also did prior to her death. During a mission, he comes across a young girl named Elle, whose parents were murdered by terrorists looking to steal a device they developed. Han saves her and essentially raises her as his own.
When Han returns to help Dom and the family, he brings a grown-up Elle (Anna Sawai) with him, as she's tied to their mission involving the Aries project. She's even present at the traditional end-of-film barbeque that Dom always hosts. As of now, Elle isn't confirmed to be returning for "Fast X," which seems like a missed opportunity to expand on her character.
Agent Markham
James Remar plays Agent Markham in "2 Fast 2 Furious," the U.S. Customs agent tasked with taking down Carter Verone's Miami operation. He often butts heads with Roman as he has an issue with authority figures (specifically the police). Plus, he likes to partake in Agent Markham's various snacks. However, it isn't just Roman who gets on Markham's bad side. Both Brian and his former FBI colleague Agent Bilkins (Thom Barry) find him difficult to work with, as Markham has a tendency to think he's always right. Spoiler alert: He almost never is.
Markham is less than enthused when Bilkins opts to bring Brian and Roman on board to help take down Verone. In fact, he often goes out of his way to make their job undercover more difficult. For example, once Carter meets Brian and Roman, he tests their driving skills immediately. He tasks all of his potential drivers with a race on the busy streets of Miami. While Brian and Roman take part in the race, Agent Markham has a tracker on their cars. He notices that they're racing and assumes that they're running away from the mission, so he goes to stop them. This almost ruins their chances of getting in with Verone at all.
Luckily, things end smoothly between Brian, Roman, and Agent Markham, with him eventually thanking them for all their hard work when he's able to arrest Verone. And that's that. He's never shown in another "Fast & Furious" film again.
Neela
Released in 2006, "Tokyo Drift" is the only "Fast & Furious" film not to follow the adventures of either Dom or Brian. The story goes in an entirely new direction, focusing on teenagers living in Tokyo who are part of the underground drift racing scene.
Lucas Black plays Sean Boswell, a kid with an interest in cars and a penchant for getting into trouble. Through his friendship with Twinkie (yes that's his name, and yes he's portrayed by Bow Wow) he meets Han, a street racer and business partner to the Drift King Takashi, who has ties to the Yakuza. His girlfriend is also a drifter named Neela (Nathalie Kelley), and she catches Sean's eye.
Sean and Neela end up together and seem to take over Han's operation once he "dies." And in "Furious 7," Dom travels to Tokyo after learning of Han's death. He has a brief conversation with Sean, where Neela can be seen in the background via old footage from "Tokyo Drift." Sean returns once more in "F9," where he and Twinkie are working together in Germany. And instead of Neela working alongside them, the duo is joined by a different side character briefly seen in "Tokyo Drift," Earl Hu (Jason Tobin).
Neela's absence may be due to Kelley taking an overall step back from Hollywood these days. As she explained in a recent interview with Beauticate, she isn't really interested in acting in big blockbusters anymore.
Takashi
Brian Lee portrays Takashi, the villain in "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift." Takashi is given the title "DK" because he's known as the Drift King in Tokyo. As far as "Fast & Furious" villains go, Takashi is pretty tame. He's simply a good drift racer with a chip on his shoulder — And some slight ties to the Yakuza. No big deal. In all honesty, Takashi seems like a normal guy who's only in the Yakuza to make his uncle happy. Plus, his motivations kind of make sense. He doesn't like Sean because he's trying to steal his girlfriend and take his crown as Drift King. He gets mad at Han when he learns that he's been stealing from him and makes him look foolish in front of his uncle. Truthfully, these all seem reasonable.
After the events of "Tokyo Drift," Takashi is run out of town when he loses a race to Sean. Unfortunately, his story just ends there, but it would have been nice to see him pop up again. Takashi is the perfect character to have a redemption arc like Deckard Shaw's. On the flip side, he could also have gone deeper into crime after feeling betrayed by his uncle, girlfriend, and Han. Takashi would have fit perfectly in Owen Shaw's (Luke Evans) crew, or he could have popped up working with Cipher (Charlize Theron) or Dom's brother Jakob.
There have been many opportunities to bring him back, but unfortunately, his story ends in "Tokyo Drift."
Sophie Trinh
"Fast & Furious" is the first film that brings back most of the original cast, with Dom, Brian, Letty, and Mia all returning. A lot has changed in the years since the first two films, especially for Brian. Sometime after the events of "2 Fast 2 Furious," Brian is recruited to work for the FBI. He's assigned to track down and stop a drug lord named Arturo Braga (John Ortiz) with his team. Brian has clear issues with one team member, Michael Stasiak (Shea Whigham), which results in him breaking his nose. That's why it's curious that Michael opts to help Brian a few years later in "Fast & Furious 6," especially since Brian is a fugitive at the time. Instead, it could have been Agent Sophie Trinh (Liza Lapira) who returns and helps Brian, as they were friends.
Trinh seems like the only FBI agent on Brian's team who he gets along with. She likely would have jumped at the chance to assist Brian, regardless of his status with the law. The only reason to think that Brian would ask Michael rather than Sophie is because he's a more senior agent, and therefore holds more power. However, there are many years between the fourth and sixth films, giving Sophie plenty of time to become more senior in the FBI. It really should have been her that the franchise brought back for another film, not Michael. Or at the very least, it would have been fun to see them both.