Every Major Fast Character Who's Returned From The Dead... So Far
Contains spoilers for "Fast X"
In the "Fast and Furious" universe, family triumphs above all — including, in some cases, death itself.
The impermanent mortality of the series' stars has become a regular gripe of franchise naysayers, with many feeling that the lack of consequential stakes in previous films dramatically hinders the ability of "Fast X" to create genuine tension. Even as a certain long-lost brother commits a tragic sacrifice, or as the script tries to pull off an explosive existential cliffhanger to rival "Avengers: Infinity War," the series must forgive those audience members who have trouble buying finality via deadly car/plane crash at this point.
To its credit, however, the series often brings back previously "dead" characters as a way of appeasing its most vocal fans. At the end of the day, The Fast Saga has always sought to make its audience feel as though they were in the driver's seat right next to the franchise's writers, directors, and producers. Whether or not they ruin the suspension of disbelief in newer installments, it must be admitted that "Fast" films wouldn't be the same without these zombified favorites.
Letty Ortiz survived a car crash and two executions
In the "Fast" universe, fans can actually pretty much pinpoint the exact scene that showed them they had to start treating character "deaths" with hypothetical quotation marks. The moment comes after the credits of the franchise's undisputed highpoint "Fast Five," when Eva Mendes' "2 Fast 2 Furious" character Monica Fuentes reveals that Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) somehow survived her car-crash-execution at the hands of the Braga Cartel.
In the preceding "Fast and Furious," Dom (Vin Diesel) is crushed to find out that Letty has been murdered in an attempt to gain his freedom by working as a confidential informant for Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) and the FBI. This was eventually discovered by Owen Shaw ("Fast and Furious 6's" Luke Evans), who was tasked with pulling the trigger himself.
After finding that Letty's memory had been all but entirely erased following a near-fatal car accident, Owen decided instead to welcome her into his own Bizarro World-Fast crew. Dom is able to convince Letty to fall in love with him once more at the end of the film, and she even recovers her full memory in "Furious 7."
Han Lue survived getting T-boned by a murderous Deckard Shaw and a NOS-fueled explosion
The series' shall we say, "overly familiar" relationship with the afterlife quickly came in handy for the franchise's guiding hand Justin Lin, who joined The Fast Saga with the third installment, "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" — bringing with him his longtime friend, Sung Kang, who would play the supporting role of Han Lue. Lin brought Kang in to play the character after Kang first portrayed Han in the breakout indie film, "Better Luck Tomorrow."
In "Tokyo Drift," Han dies a tragic death in a street race with Deckard Shaw. However, after connecting with Vin Diesel on the franchise's defining characteristic of diversity, being quickly asked back for future installments by Universal, and witnessing the positive fan response to Han in "Tokyo Drift," Lin realized that he had to get Han back into the story somehow. At first, they merely set all subsequent films before the events of "Tokyo Drift," though Lin would eventually bring Han back for good in "F9."
Gisele Yashar survived falling head first onto a plane runway at jet-speed
Of course, the most recent "Fast and Furious" resurrection came about during the last act of "Fast X," which saw Letty escaping an Agency black-site prison in Antarctica with the help of her once and future archnemesis, Cipher (Charlize Theron). As the two tenuous allies emerge into the seemingly barren tundra, something wholly unexpected reaches the surface with them — the nuclear submarine from "The Fate of the Furious," piloted by Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot).
Gisele was last seen alive in "Fast and Furious 6," wherein she sacrificed herself to save the life of her partner, Han. Ironically, from a meta-perspective, her death was almost certainly written into the sixth installment to expedite his own demise in "Tokyo Drift" (otherwise the series would have to find some other reason to justify why she wasn't with him in Japan). Now that Han has returned from the dead, however, it would seem a little unfair to keep Gisele in the proverbial fridge.
In 2020, ahead of Han's return in "F9," Gadot seemed ambivalent about returning to the "Fast" universe — though this was well before James Gunn and Peter Safran began reworking the future of DC Films without her third "Wonder Woman" film. That said, it seems that director Louis Letrerrier was the driving force behind her resurrection, telling the Hollywood Reporter that he "couldn't conceive" of moving forward without her and Dwayne Johnson involved.