Ever since we learned that Helen Mirren is ride or die for the Fast And The Furious franchise—so much so that she’s starring in the upcoming Fate Of The Furious—we’ve wondered what part she would play in the family-first franchise. Mirren’s done the assassin thing alongside Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman in the Red movies, so she could certainly handle her own opposite Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson. Word has finally broken as to her role, and it sounds… interesting.
Yahoo! Movies recently interviewed Luke Evans, one of the stars of the Fast & Furious 6, and learned that Mirren would play his character’s mother. Evans was actually stumping for the live-action Beauty And The Beast movie he currently stars in, but he answered questions about his Fast character Owen Shaw, who was last seen in a coma, which is what sent his brother (played by Jason Statham) on a Furious rampage. Mirren is playing the Shaw matriarch, who some are theorizing is more the “head of a crime family” type than a British June Cleaver.
Universal wouldn’t comment on this tidbit from Evans, who thinks his character could regain consciousness in a later film, because why not—now that the family’s turned against each other, nothing makes sense anymore.