The Fast and Furious franchise has become one of the biggest blockbuster movie series' in recent years, spawning eight main entries, a spinoff movie and even an animated series on Netflix. One of its most notable entries is the third movie, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, which introduced Sung Kang's Han Lue to the franchise. However, despite it being his first appearance, the character would die during the movie's climax.
Han's character and his death are expanded later in the series, and it's eventually revealed to not be a mere automotive accident. So, with the character miraculously returning in F9, here's a look at how and why he initially met his untimely end.
Han, nicknamed Han Seoul-Oh, first appeared in Justin Lin's drama film Better Luck Tomorrow, before debuting in Tokyo Drift. He uses the wealth he acquired in the former movie to start a garage and befriends Takashi, the nephew of a local yakuza boss. Soon, he gets into trouble with Takashi and his uncle Kamata, mostly because of his association with the foreigner Sean and the fact that he stole money from the family.
When confronted by Takashi, Han makes a run for it in his car, and while he's able to escape, his car is soon t-boned by another vehicle. While Han's death initially appeared to be the work of the yakuza, Takashi later admits he had nothing to do with it. At the end of Tokyo Drift, Sean meets Dom Toretto and learns Han was once part of his crew.
This wasn't the end for Han, however, as he would go on to star in three more Fast & Furious movies. This was able to happen because the third entry in the franchise takes place after the next three subsequent films, Fast & Furious, Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6. Han's death is finally caught up to during the events Fast & Furious 6, with the events being replayed and expounded upon in a mid-credits scene. This scene establishes that it was no mere accident that caused Han's death and that his car was intentionally struck by a mysterious man played by Jason Statham.
In the next movie, Furious 7, Han's killer is revealed to be Deckard Shaw, the brother of Owen Shaw. At the beginning of the seventh film, Shaw finds information on the whereabouts of Dom and his crew, all while running afoul and earning the disdain of Luke Hobbs. This intel informed him that Han had broken away from the group to go live in Tokyo. Hoping to take him down more easily due to his being on his own, Shaw strikes Han's car before calling Dom and telling him that he's coming to finish the job. Thankfully for fans of the character, however, this isn't the end for him, as he will soon be racing back from the dead in the franchise's newest entry.
Directed by Justin Lin, F9 stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell and Charlize Theron. The film arrives in theaters June 25.
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