Fast & Furious star says the franchise has drifted way off course

There's something oddly reassuring about hearing a star from one of the world’s biggest movie franchises step forward and admit, 'maybe we've gone a bit off the rails.' No stranger to memes and furious street races, Sung Kang — the man behind Han Lue — has, quite frankly, called it how many fans see it.

The Franchise According to Han

Over the years, the Fast & Furious films have escalated in a way that’s frankly difficult to parody anymore. We’re no longer dealing with drag races around busy crossroads. These days, it’s orbital satellites, superhuman feats and more secret agencies than the average Bond marathon. Yet for Kang, that’s not what first pulled millions of people into this world.

Showing up at San Diego Comic-Con, Kang’s initial reason was to talk about his indie film Drifter. But when pressed by Collider, he didn’t hold back on where he thinks Fast & Furious could — and perhaps should — go from here.

‘Maybe we lost our way to a degree. Maybe we can come back to that.’

He’s quick to clarify this isn’t him whinging for the sake of it. It’s more a plea for reflection. What made the franchise resonate on a global scale wasn’t the bonkers stuntwork but its original sense of shared purpose and street-level camaraderie. A time when, as Kang puts it, ‘community’ was the thing in the driver’s seat.

What ‘Drifter’ Taught Kang

Here’s where it gets properly interesting. To make his indie film, Kang couldn’t even get in the door with many studios. Their loss, apparently. Instead, he turned to the very real car community that has supported him since he was a kid.

‘Every dollar of the financing, all the cars, the location, the drivers. We don’t have any CGI or visual effects driving. It’s all practical.’

‘Drivers from all over the world brought their cars. They built cars for me.’

At the centre of Drifter is a straightforward, almost defiant reliance on genuine people and practical skill. No computer-generated shortcuts. That, for Kang, is what film should feel like — and what he’s quietly urging Fast & Furious to rediscover: authenticity through real, grassroots connection.

• Sung Kang played Han Lue in Fast & Furious and spoke at SDCC.
• He criticised the franchise's shift from authentic street racing to over-the-top spectacle.
• Kang’s indie film Drifter was entirely funded and supported by the real car community — no CGI, just practical driving and genuine enthusiasts.