3 Years Later, ‘Reacher’s Alan Ritchson Remains the Most Surprising Part of This Action Epic

It never stops being some combination of funny and sad how the Fast & Furious series has gone beyond growing over the years, and is instead gradually growing out of control. It was originally a spin on Point Break, but with more car racing (as in that’s what the first movie was). Then, it became more about heists than racing, and a little after that, the stakes were raised further, and the ragtag group of heroes were basically spies, and maybe even superheroes, at a point. Two characters notoriously went to space for real, after jokes about that being where Fast & Furious was headed. It’s that kind of series, and Fast X (2023) really emphasizes the bloat. It is the messiest and most overstuffed of all the movies in the series, which means that parts of it are great, and parts are frustrating. The usual suspects, like Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, and Jordana Brewster, all show up, alongside newcomers to the series like Brie Larson, Jason Momoa, and Alan Ritchson.

And that’s really only scratching the surface, when it comes to cast members here. There are so many more people, but basically, the film is about Momoa’s character wanting revenge for the death of his father, which happened back in Fast Five, and he targets Vin Diesel’s Dom and Dom’s whole massive (and infamous) family. Also infamous: the cliffhanger Fast X ends on. Now, it’s been three years, and news about an 11th movie, titled Fast Forever, has been out for a while, so that would imply a continuation of Fast X (especially because Fast Forever is purportedly being made as a grand finale to the whole series). But still, if you want to go into what might come next, and the role Alan Ritchson (best known for playing the titular character in Reacher) plays in Fast X, talking about the ending to the 10th film is necessary. So…

The following article will contain spoilers for Fast X.

What ‘Fast X’ Is About

Image via Universal Pictures

Fast X is about too much. Yes, there’s Momoa as Dante Reyes, son of Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), trying to get revenge for his father’s death at the end of Fast Five, which also involves targeting Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), but not until a mid-credits scene. Oh, and right before the end credits, it turns out Gisele (Gal Gadot) is still alive, after having seemingly died in Fast & Furious 6. And she reveals herself to Letty (Rodriguez) and Cipher (Charlize Theron), the latter being a villain who’s stuck around beyond her introduction. Also, Letty was dead, at one point in the series, but came back. And in F9, Han (Sung Kang) was revealed as not being dead, so he has to reconnect with Gisele in Fast Forever, one would assume, since they were a thing. And he does stuff in Fast X, interacting with Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who was the one who almost killed Han.

There is too much in Fast X, and so many famous people just keep on showing up that it’s no wonder the budget blew up and out of control.

This isn’t even everything. There is too much in Fast X, and so many famous people just keep on showing up that it’s no wonder the budget blew up and out of control, estimated to be one of the most expensive movies of all time. Fast X’s commitment to not forgetting about past characters is admirable, but sort of unwieldy, especially with all the unneeded resurrections. It means that the supposed deaths at the end of Fast X feel unlikely to stick… well, John Cena’s Jakob, maybe? But not Roman, Tej, Ramsey, and Han, who were on a plane that got shot down, right near the end, by Alan Ritchson’s character. Ritchson is good at playing intimidating characters, owing to his physique and overall on-screen energy, but usually of the antihero variety (see Reacher)… so that makes his turn at the end of Fast X more than a little surprising.

The Role Alan Ritchson Plays in ‘Fast X’

Fast X ending with a cliffhanger felt less painful when there was a general sense of its follow-up being only a couple of years away. But then Fast Forever got Beyond the Spider-Verse’d (and, what do you know, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also came out in 2023 and had an agonizing cliffhanger ending). At the end of Fast X, Giselle is alive somehow, Dom and his son (Leo Abelo Perry) are in the path of water from a dam that’s set to explode, most of Dom’s team are on board a plane that’s just been shot down, and Ritchson’s Aimes is the one who’s done that shooting, having revealed himself as being aligned with Dante Reyes the whole time, in secret.

Aimes had been a little suspicious the whole movie, but still, plenty of characters in these movies are kind of snarky, and Dante did come across as someone able to do a lot while working alone (Momoa’s character is hammy enough that you believe as much). The idea of him having an accomplice is something, though, and it would be good for Alan Ritchson to be given a bit more to do in Fast Forever. As frustrating as the cliffhanger is, the visual of him shooting down the plane is memorable (even if the likelihood that any of the four main characters on it are actually dead remains unlikely).

What ‘Fast X’ Could Do (or Not Do) With Ritchson’s Character in the Next Movie

Okay, so, Fast Forever is still up in the air, at the time of writing, in terms of what will happen. No one knows beyond (one would hope) the people making it, but even then, it was in March 2026 that Michael Lesslie was reported as replacing Zach Dean, so maybe it really is a case of “no one knows (yet).” Giving Momoa and Ritchson more to do seems like a no-brainer, because the former was the highlight of Fast X, and the latter could be well-utilized post-plot-twist. If nothing else, Ritchson getting into a brawl with someone similarly physically imposing, like Dwayne Johnson, could be good to see for sheer spectacle.

Hopefully it’s good, whatever happens. The past few-hundred words have been a bit dismissive of some parts of this whole series, and especially certain parts of Fast X, but there is also something wonderful and endearing about this action-heavy soap opera-esque saga that’s spanned more than a quarter of a century, at this point. Expecting Fast Forever to be a highlight of the series is a big ask, and maybe even irrational, though if it’s just a fitting send-off, you’d assume most fans of the family will be happy. All will be clear about two years from now… uh, barring any further delays. You never know. No one knows.