If there’s a film franchise out there that no one ever thought would reach the mammoth success it has, it’s Fast and Furious. I mean, it started out as a simple story about a cop getting in too deep undercover. It was a mid-budget silly movie that followed a bunch of dudes stealing things like DVD players with their $100,000 cars.

Yet somehow it grew bigger with every installment, expanding its mythos even more when both Paul Walker and Vin Diesel opted to return to the fold in the fourth film. Things expanded all the more when Dwayne Johnson hopped on board. Soon, he and Jason Statham will be leading the spin-off Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw. So why now? Why do we need a spin-off at this point in the franchise? Here’s what Johnson said to EW.

When you have a franchise that is as successful as the Fast & Furious franchise, the goal, certainly my goal, was always to try and create a scenario where we have as much longevity as we possibly can have. And in that spirit, you have to evolve and you have to spin off and you have to create new characters and new stories, especially when you’re coming off Fast 8, where you have an eight at the end of your title. [Laughs.] And while that one was wildly successful as well, we all collectively felt, myself, Jason Statham, the studio, all right, now’s the time, let’s make our move. So it’s been pretty surreal, but it’s also been a lot of fun and pretty exciting.

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What do you think of his comments? Do you agree that they’ll need to rely on spin-offs if they want to keep going forward? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: EW