Eddie Marsan to star in Hobbs and Shaw

8 October 2018

Eddie Marsan has signed up to star in 'Fast and Furious' spin-off 'Hobbs and Shaw'.

Eddie Marsan

The 50-year-old English actor has appeared in several David Leitch directed films including 'Deadpool 2' and 'Atomic Blonde' and the filmmaker has now got him on board for the action flick, which will star 'Fast and Furious 8' duo Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham as the titular characters.

Teasing the plot of the film, Leitch said: "I think it's going to be a little bit more grounded because it's the beginning. It's an origin story, in a sense. It's not an origin story, but we're starting a franchise. So we want it to be a little bit more grounded, a little bit more character-centric.

"We're going to set up the stakes for these guys and their relationship, but we're also going to have some great set pieces and some action that you'd expect from that type of franchise."

The spin-off will continue from 2017's 'The Fate of the Furious' and see Johnson play agent Luke Hobbs and team up with assassin Deckard Shaw (Statham) to fight Idris Elba, who will play the film's as-yet unnamed villain.

'Fast and Furious' scriptwriter Chris Morgan is penning the 'Hobbs and Shaw' film and although it will contain the "original DNA" of the 'Fast and Furious' franchise but still maintain their own "take on the Fast universe".

Leitch added: "We're diving into their world. I think we want to have our own take on the Fast universe. It will definitely have elements of the original DNA, but it is more drifting into Shaw's spy word and Dwayne's agent world and, obviously, we want to build on their relationship, their conflict, their banter. That chemistry that they have between them, that's sort of what's driving the movie."