Michelle Rodriguez Threatens To Leave ‘Fast And Furious’ If Female Characters Don’t Get Better Parts
TheFast and Furiousmovies have been paragons for diversity in action blockbusters, boasting a multiracial cast of Hispanic, black, and Asian characters long before superhero franchises caught on. It was in part thanks to the films' street-racingroots in the Latino community, and in part due to starVin Diesel’sinsistence on working withonly diverse casts. But despite all the franchise’s progress, it’s still got a women problem.
A women problem that female leadMichelle Rodriguezis calling out. Although she’s had her fair share of car stunts and fight scenes, Rodriguez is still the only woman who has stuck with the male-heavy franchise since the beginning, and now, she’s threatening to leave if she and the other female characters aren’t given better parts.
Rodriguez celebrated the release ofFate of the Furiouson digital platforms on her Instagram, but took the opportunity to chastise the series for its predominantly male cast which features Diesel,Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Jason Statham, Chris LudacrisBridges, andKurt Russell.
“F8 is out digitally today, I hope they decide to show some love to the women of the franchise on the next one. Or I just might have to say goodbye to a loved franchise. It’s been a good ride & Im grateful for the opportunity the fans & studio have provided over the years… One Love.”
F8 is out digitally today, I hope they decide to show some love to the women of the franchise on the next one. Or I just might have to say goodbye to a loved franchise. It’s been a good ride & Im grateful for the opportunity the fans & studio have provided over the years… One Love ???????????????????????????????????
A post shared by Michelle Rodriguez (@mrodofficial) on Jun 02, 2025 at 8:43am PDT
Rodriguez plays Letty, the love interest and right-hand man of Diesel’s Dom, in theFast and Furiousfranchise. She made her first appearance inThe Fast and the Furiousin 2001 and appeared in each film except forTokyo DriftandFast Fiveafter getting temporarily killed off (it’s complicated).
However, despite her checkered appearances, she has appeared in the same number of movies as Jordana Brewster, who left the franchise when her character was written off after Paul Walker’s death. And let’s not even get into how poorly the franchise has treated Mia, who has spent her time in the movies off to the sidelines or kidnapped. The only other significant female characters areGal Gadot’s Gisele, who was also killed off alongside her love interest Han (Sung Kang), andNathalie Emmanuel’s genius hacker Ramsey, who only joined the franchise inFurious 7.
The worst treated has to beElsa Pataky’s Elena, however, who has spent her time in the movies being a kind-of-love-interest to Dom, a kind-of-partner to Hobbs (who, let’s face it, already has his bulging biceps to back him up), and a kind-of-plot-point inFate of the Furious, only to be unceremoniously killed off.
Rodriguez is right to criticize theFast and Furiousfranchise for its poor treatment of women, who seem to be inherently tied to their male love interests — even if they do get a badass fight scene in a dress every now and then.
However, with the inclusion ofCharlize Theronas a villain and a scene-stealing performance fromHelen MirreninFate of the Furious, the folks behind theFast and Furiousfranchise will hopefully listen to Rodriguez’s demands and give more opportunities for female characters in the next films.
