‘Fate of the Furious’: Mirren Is The Shaw Bros. Mother

Many of us suspected it, but now it’s confirmed: Helen Mirren is player “Mum” Shaw in Universal’s The Fate of the Furious. According to star Luke Evans, the veteran British actress will be playing the mother of his character, Owen Shaw, and Jason Statham‘s Deckard Shaw. Evans about the possibility of his return to the franchise…

“People come around from comas, so who knows? He’s in a military hospital because he’s the most wanted man in the world, but he’s got a very powerful brother, and he’s now got a mum as well, who’s played by Helen Mirren.”

Normally I would just handwave such comments off as nothing more than an actor placating an interviewer, but this is the Fast and Furious franchise that we are talking about here. With two more installments in the series already dated, chances were always high that Luke Evans would be back playing Owen again in one of them. Those just increased tenfold with the addition of Helen Mirren as his no doubt equally-badass mother.

Honestly, with the introduction of such a potentially-antagonistic matriarch, I am kind of hoping that either Fast 9 or Fast 10 sees our heroes taking on a Legion of Doom-style team-up of the franchise’s surviving villains. After all, quite a few are still breathing…

• The Fast and the Furious – Lance Nguyan (Reggie Lee)
• 2 Fast 2 Furious –  Carter Verone (Cole Hauser)
• Tokyo Drift – DK (Brian Tee)
• Tokyo Drift – Kamata (Sonny Chiba)
• Fast & Furious – Arturo Braga (John Ortiz)
• Furious 6 – Owen Shaw (Luke Evans)
• Furious Seven – Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham)
• The Fate of the Furious – Unnamed Shaw (Helen Mirren)

I’m sure there’s one or two others that I’m forgetting. Mind you this is nothing more than a fan wish. After all, we already know that Statham’s Deckard teams up with our heroes in the new film. Perhaps the hatchet between them is buried as the film goes on? Perhaps he and/or Mirren’s character don’t even survive the events of the new sequel? If they do, however, the above would make for an entertaining Legion of Doom/Masters of Evil-esque threat for Toretto & Co. to face down in another film.

Mind you that roster is a bit dude-heavy, so it would need a greater dose of gender diversity. Regardless, it’s an enticing and fresh idea. Despite a hefty dose of superheroes on the big screen, neither Marvel nor DC have pulled the trigger on a big surviving villain team-up flick. If Universal plays their cards right, they could be the first to do so.