F9: The Fast Saga is loaded with Easter eggs and references to the rest of the Fast and Furious franchise. As the ninth core film in the series and the tenth film overall (11th when counting the unofficial Han prequel film Better Luck Tomorrow), F9 has plenty of material to pull in from throughout the franchise’s history. The new movie also deals specifically with the unseen past of Dom, Letty and Mia, opening up more opportunities to reference the series’ roots.
To start, F9 includes several references that are central to the film’s plot. The opening flashback scene of Dom, Jakob, and Mia’s father dying in racing accident is exactly how it’s described in the original movie, as is Dom’s assault on the driver responsible. The origins of the Toretto family Charger, which Dom and Jakob worked on with their dad, are also revealed, and Dom continues to drive variations of the black Charger in F9, as he has throughout the franchise.
Related: Fast & Furious Recap: Every Event & Character To Know Before F9
Beyond the core story, there are even more Easter eggs hidden in the more subtle corners of Fast and Furious 9. Old characters return or are mentioned in passing, new cars harken back to previous films, and there are a few moments that parallel the past in fun ways. Here are all the biggest Easter eggs and references in F9: The Fast Saga.
Check out F9: Every Fast & Furious Easter Egg Explained on YouTube here.
Dom’s Father’s Name
![Young Dom Toretto in F9.](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Young-Dom-in-F9-pic.jpg)
In the film’s opening sequence, the name of Dom’s father is finally revealed – Jack Toretto. By itself, this might seem like an innocuous detail, but the name was actually picked for a specific reason. In Fast and Furious 6, Brian and Mia’s first child is born; a son, named Jack. By retroactively naming Dom and Mia’s father Jack, the series has made the younger Jack a namesake for his grandfather. It’s a small detail, but a fun one for longtime fans.
The Tokyo Drift Crew
Furious 7 brought back Tokyo Drift’s Sean Boswell in a small cameo, but F9 expands his role in the franchise in much more significant ways. The new movie not only brings back Sean, but also other Tokyo Drift crew members Earl and Twinkie. Their role in the film isn’t massive, but it’s big enough to include a few fun references. First, their new job – testing rocket engines on cars – calls back to the climax of Tokyo Drift. In that film, the crew put a Nissan RB26 engine in a classic Ford Mustang, turning it into a drift car. Obviously their F9 profession is a bit more extreme, but it’s funny that the old crew is now making a living by giving cars engines that they are definitely not supposed to have.
There’s also a funny moment when Twinkie first meets Tej and Roman. When the latter two call Twinkie by his Tokyo Drift name, he objects and explains that he doesn’t go by Twinkie anymore. This is partially just a joke at the character’s funny early 2000s name, but it also seems like an intentional nod to Bow Wow, who plays Twinkie. When he first starred in Tokyo Drift, the rapper went by the name Lil’ Bow Wow – a name he later famously changed to just Bow Wow. Twinkie objecting to his old name seems like an intentional reference to this change.
Related: Every Fast and the Furious Movie Ranked From Worst to Best (Including F9)
Agent Michael Stasiak
After their first-act adventures in Central America, the crew regroups at one of Mr. Nobody’s old secret bases. Of course, transporting a whole crew with cars and gear isn’t easy, so Dom had to call in a favor from an old associate – FBI agent Michael Stasiak. Stasiak was first introduced in Fast & Furious, where he was a colleague of Brian’s before the latter agent went rogue to break Dom out of prison. Stasiak returned in Fast & Furious 6, where he helped Brian infiltrate a prison to get information from Arturo Braga. In F9, Stasiak has a visible scar across his nose – a reference to the two times Brian broke his nose in the previous films.
Buddy Drinking Corona
Fast and Furious 9 introduces a new character from Dom’s past in Buddy, who was once Jack Toretto’s mechanic and close friend. Dom returns to Buddy in the present-day timeline to get information about Jakob, and while there, he’s offered a Corona by his dad’s old friend. In the very first Fast and Furious movie, Dom makes it clear to Brian that the Toretto family is loyal to Corona in all their beer drinking exploits, and the fact that Buddy also favors the brand is a fun Easter egg.
Magdalene Shaw’s Time In Prison
When Dom reunites with Magdalene Shaw in F9, he makes a reference to her having recently served time in jail. This is a reference to her role in the 2019 spinoff Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. In that film, her son Deckard and daughter Hattie visit her in jail, where Magdalene reveals that she has two years left on her sentence. Her kids leave her with a mysterious package, however, which is implied to be a means of escape.
Han’s Snacking Habits
After years away and an entire online fan campaign to bring him back, Han finally returns to Fast and Furious in F9. And, of course, Han wouldn’t be Han without some kind of snack in hand. Fast Five revealed that Han used to be a heavy smoker, and that he’s snacked as a substitute ever since he quit. Justin Lin’s unofficial Han prequel film Better Luck Tomorrow shows the drifter before his snacking phase, when he still smoked multiple packs a day. Clearly faking his death hasn’t impacted Han’s dietary habits at all, as he’s still munching away in F9.
Related: Fast & Furious Complete Timeline (Including F9 Flashbacks & Retcons)
Cardi B’s Leysa Character
Since the very first film, Fast and Furious has had a tradition of featuring hip hop artists in guest roles. That trend continues in F9 with a cameo from rapper Cardi B, who plays the new character Leysa – a criminal and con artist who poses as an Interpol operative to save Dom from Jakob and Otto. While talking to Leysa, Dom references them stealing oil together in the Dominican Republic – an allusion to the beginning of Fast & Furious. He then elaborates by revealing that Leysa is the sister of Cara Mirtha, part of Dom’s crew during his time in the Dominican Republic who had a short-lived relationship with Han. Cardi B is confirmed to be returning as Leysa in Fast and Furious 10.
The Origin Of Santos And Leo
One of the flashback scenes in Fast and Furious 9 shows Dom’s time in prison after his assault on Kenny Linder. While working on a car in the prison’s auto shop, Dom encounters Santos and Leo, the comedic duo who first appeared in Fast & Furious. Though a good deal younger, the two behave in much the same way they always have, bickering like an old married couple. It’s a funny Easter egg, and a great way to show how Dom met two of his lifelong buddies.
Jakob’s Old Blue Mustang
When Jakob Toretto first races onto the scene in F9 to steal the first half of Project Ares from Dom, he drives a blue Mustang. Later, when the film’s flashbacks show Jakob at the street races as a young man, he’s driving a much older version of that same car. It’s a subtle detail, but a great addition to his characterization. Fast and Furious has always given its characters preferences for different kinds of cars (American muscle cars – specifically Dodges – for Dom, import tuners – specifically Nissan Skylines – for Brian, and so forth), and making Jakob a definitive Mustang man is a nice touch to flesh out his character.
The Original Fast & Furious Crew
The flashback scenes in F9: The Fast Saga mostly focus on Dom and Jakob, but the street racing scene also includes young versions of several other original Fast characters. Young versions of Mia and Letty are the two most prominent, but there are also young versions of Vince and Jesse hidden in the crowd. This adds a nice bit of continuity to the original film, while also paying respect to Dom’s original crew.
Related: F9 Cast Guide: Every New & Returning Character
Dom And Jakob’s Drag Race
F9’s flashbacks culminate in a drag race between Dom and Jakob, with the younger brother’s future on the line. Dom believes fervently that Jakob is responsible for their father’s death, but he gives him a chance to stay in town if he beats him one-on-one. The race ensues, and while Jakob drives well for most of him, he makes a classic Fast mistake – hitting his NOS too early. Dom waits and hits his NOS at the very end, passing Jakob in the final milliseconds to take first place. It’s the exact same way that Dom beat Brian in their first race in The Fast and the Furious, with Dom even uttering the same “too soon” line. By connecting the two drag races in this way, F9 shows how good Dom always was, while also paying tribute to the franchise’s roots.
Dom Being Rescued By Letty
In one of F9’s most absurd action sequences, Dom collapses an entire tunnel on himself and a group of foes, sending him plummeting into the water below. Just when it looks like all might be lost, Letty jumps in and saves him from drowning. In Fast & Furious 6, when he’s trying to help Letty get her memory back, Dom mentions a story of her getting caught in a reef while night swimming and explains how he managed to save her. The scene in F9 is a nice subtle flip of that story, with Letty being the one to save Dom from drowning.
Han’s Orange Toyota Supra
The particular cars driven by the Fast and Furious crew have always been significant, and that remains true in F9 – especially regarding Han’s new ride. In the film’s climactic chase scene, Han drives a gorgeous 2020 Toyota Supra, bedecked in orange and black. The body type and paint scheme of the car harken back to the Mazda RX-7 he drove in Tokyo Drift, but that’s not the vehicle’s only reference.
Fans who’ve been with the series since the beginning will remember another iconic orange Supra. In The Fast and the Furious, Dom and Brian build that exact car, which Brian then drives throughout the movie. It’s the car he races Dom with in their famous train-jumping drag at the end of the film, and it’s the car Brian gives Dom to escape in after the police come after him. By giving Han a new orange Supra, F9 homages both Tokyo Drift and the very first film in the series.
Related: F9: How Han Really Survived
Dom’s 10-Second Car
This Easter egg might be a bit more obvious, but it’s still easily overlooked. At the end of Fast and Furious 9, Dom and Jakob make amends for their past transgressions. The tender moment doesn’t last long, however, as Jakob is still a wanted man by most governments on the planet. To help him escape, Dom gives his little brother the keys to his car, saying that he was once given a 10-second car as a second chance, and that Jakob deserves the same. This touching reference to Dom and Brian’s final moment from The Fast and the Furious is a great detail for fans – when Brian gave Dom a 10-second car – and a perfect note to end Jakob and Dom’s F9 story.
The Rebuilt Toretto House
1327, the Toretto family home, finally returns in F9. However, it’s not quite the same as it once was. The house is clearly still being rebuilt, a reference to it being bombed in Furious 7 by Deckard Shaw. While that event isn’t referenced directly in the new movie, the visual of the house still under construction is a nice touch. It’s also a sort of visual metaphor for the Toretto family being rebuilt, as Dom and Jakob have ended their feud and begun the process of rebuilding their family, as well as their old home.
Brian’s Blue Nissan Skyline
The final shot (not counting F9’s post-credits scene) of Fast and Furious 9 shows a blue Nissan Skyline pulling up to the Toretto house – a car any fan will instantly recognize as the signature ride of Brian O’Conner. It’s a perfect way to remind everyone that Brian still lives in and is a centerpiece of the Fast world, even if he won’t be appearing on screen anymore after Paul Walker’s tragic passing. The Skyline is a great show of respect for a man who helped make the franchise what it is today, and it’s a beautiful note on which to end F9: The Fast Saga.
Next: F9 Ending Explained & Fast & Furious Future Set-Up