10 Filmmakers Who Should Direct The Next 'Fast And Furious' Movie

Earlier this week, we wrote about how there's a chance The Fate of the Furious director F. Gary Gray might not return for the upcoming Fast 9. But this is one of Universal's biggest moneymakers, so somebody has to take on the tremendous challenge of leading the massive production as the series barrels toward its planned ending. Who could successfully shoulder the weight of a long-running film franchise yet still deliver an entertaining spectacle in a quick and efficient manner? I've come up with 10 filmmakers I think are up to the task, so read on for my list of who could be the Fast and Furious 9 director.

There's a reason MacLaren's name is a staple on any list of directors for major blockbuster projects: she's simply one of the most qualified people working in the industry today. She's thrived in worlds as varied as The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones, keeping a focus on character while still crafting compelling action sequences, dramatic reveals, and moody atmospherics. Plus, series star Michelle Rodriguez recently threatened to bail if the filmmakers don't "show some love to the women of the franchise on the next one," and there's no better way to jumpstart that conversation than to put a qualified female filmmaker in the director's chair. We're still waiting for MacLaren to make the jump into feature films, and considering that there have been multiple instances of directors being thrust into the blockbuster market after directing just one indie movie, it makes sense that MacLaren should at least be in the conversation each time a major release is looking for someone to lead it.

Let's move on to a different Game of Thrones director. Sapochnik has helmed three of the all-time great GoT episodes – "Hardhome," "Battle of the Bastards," and "The Winds of Winter" – and has a proven ability to tackle complex battle scenes involving horses, fire, hundreds of extras, and intricate CG shots. Those qualities alone make him a valid choice to step in, but he also has feature directing experience (he directed Repo Men in 2010) and directing credits on shows like Fringe, Banshee, and True Detective. Compared to the budget and time restraints of working on large scale television, making a Fast movie should be a breeze for him.

In light of how much this franchise loves family, who better to slide back into the driver's seat than a previous family member? Since F. Gary Gray seems to have taken his name out of contention, Rob Cohen, Justin Lin, and James Wan have all directed Fast movies before and might be willing to return for a victory lap. Universal reportedly wanted Lin back for The Fate of the Furious, so it stands to reason that they'd be looking to fill this new position with someone who's utterly familiar with the ins and outs of this job's requirements. Personally, I'd love to see Lin at least come back for the tenth and presumably final movie in the main Fast saga (the spinoffs will likely continue for a while beyond that), since he was largely responsible for bringing this whole thing back from the brink of obliteration, and I certainly wouldn't mind if he came back for both 9 and 10. But I think we all agree that John Singleton can sit this one out, considering his 2 Fast 2 Furious is the worst movie in the series thus far.

Alexander has a track record of making potent, visceral movies like Green Street Hooligans and Punisher: War Zone, and she's been waiting for another chance to show that she belongs on lists like these. She could easily handle the fast pacing and large scale of a Fast film, and she'd be able to bestow the inevitable fist fights with a down-and-dirty physicality that was missing from The Fate of the Furious.

Another regular on lists of this sort, Bigelow would be a fun choice to direct a Fast & Furious movie because she directed the 1991 action classic Point Break, which of course served as the cinematic template for 2001's The Fast and The Furious, the film that kicked off this entire franchise. She can direct the hell out of a foot chase (Point Break's is still one of the best of all time), and though her recent movies have leaned more toward realistic depictions of war and social upheaval (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Detroit), I have a feeling she'd be able to step into the ludicrous Fast universe and rock our worlds.

If this franchise is going to head to space, why not let it be guided there by someone who has history with space-related cinematic catastrophes? Mimi Leder directed Deep Impact back in '98, a film about an asteroid that hurtles to Earth and causes a tidal wave. What if – hear me out on this – the same thing exact thing happens in Fast 9, but this time, Dominic Toretto and his gang install floatation devices on the bottom of their cars and use the monstrous tidal wave as a mega-ramp that allows them to launch into space? While that scenario may not end up happening (...yet), I still think Leder – who's earned tons of acclaim for her work directing HBO's The Leftovers – has what it takes to handle the ninth entry in this ridiculous family saga.

Speaking of filmmakers familiar with space, The Wachowskis have already made a space epic of their own with Jupiter Ascending, as well as dabbled in that realm again in their portions of Cloud Atlas. Frankly, anyone who comes up with the idea of a half-man/half-wolf guardian who wears flying shoes and is played by Channing Tatum sounds like they'd be up to the challenge of handling whatever insanity Universal might have in mind for Fast 9. With their Netflix series Sense8 cancelled (though a two-hour finale is on the way), Lana and Lilly may be on the lookout for a new project, and they'd definitely be able to tackle the requisite action from a fresh, dynamic perspective while also keeping the characters and their relationships front and center.

I'm not even a big fan of Taymor's 2007 Beatles musical Across the Universe, but the director obviously has a mastery of big, splashy visuals that turn heads and make people take notice. Her proclivity for adapting the works of Shakespeare could translate to a distinctive, unprecedented vision for what a mainstream action movie might look like, and her experience directing Broadway shows (including the ultra-hit The Lion King) means she'd be attuned to playing up the heightened emotions and drama that's built into the very core of this franchise. Plus, Taymor worked with Dame Helen Mirren on 2010's The Tempest, and Mirren, as you know, will play an important part in the Fast films moving forward as the mother of Jason Statham and Luke Evans' Shaw brothers. More Helen Mirren is always a good thing.

In my mind, Trachtenberg is one of the most likely candidates on this list. The filmmaker made waves with his stellar debut feature 10 Cloverfield Lane last year, and has been working with Fast & Furious writer/producer Chris Morgan on a time travel thriller called Crime of the Century for years now. Could that connection pay off with a detour to the Fast-verse? He'd likely be cheaper than a big name director, but they'd certainly get the best bang for their buck because 10 Cloverfield Lane is a crackling, suspenseful, expertly directed piece of work; I'd love to see what Trachtenberg can do with a larger budget and a big playground like this.

Considering all of the rumors about Vin Diesel's controlling nature on the sets of these movies (he reportedly axed a post-credits scene in Fate that centered on Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham's characters because it was shot without his knowledge), it makes sense that Diesel, one of the movie's producers and custodians of the Fast saga, would just step behind the camera and direct an entry himself. After all, he's done it already: he helmed a short film called Los Bandoleros that fills in some gaps between Tokyo Drift and Fast & Furious. I would not be the least bit surprised if an imminent announcement pegged him as the director of Fast 9.

Who would you like to see direct the new movie?