How is Han alive in Fast & Furious 9?
Its no secret that Sung Kangs presumed-dead Fast & Furious character Han returns to the franchise in new entry Fast & Furious 9  the first trailer for the delayed action flick (released all the way back in February 2020) confirmed the fan-favourites resurrection, after the series had previously gone to absurd lengths to feature Han despite his on-screen demise. F9 does give us an answer  sort of  but its delivered as part of a madcap plot involving hijacked satellites, high-powered magnets and all manner of vehicular mayhem, so if you left the cinema feeling confused, weve got you covered (Warning: Do not continue reading until youve seen Fast & Furious 9  spoilers for the movie follow!) Kang actually made his debut as Han in director Justin Lins 2002 film Better Luck Tomorrow  not officially part of the Fast film saga  but his first appearance in the core franchise comes in 2006s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Han owns his own garage and is involved in Tokyos elite street racing scene, befriending the films lead Sean Boswell (Lucas Black). During a street pursuit involving Sean and the films antagonist Takashi (Brian Tee), Hans car collides with a Mercedes S-Class and he is apparently killed when his vehicle explodes moments later. Sign up to get alerts for movie news, reviews and recommendations Thanks, you are now signed up to our films newsletter! We look forward to sending you our email updates. Sign in to/ register for a RadioTimes.com account to manage your email preferences Sign in Register To manage your email preferences, click here. Sign me up! Immediate Media Company Limited (publishers of radiotimes.com) would love to send you our films newsletters. We may also send occasional updates from our editorial team. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we hold your personal data, please see our privacy policy. The next three Fast & Furious movies  2009s Fast & Furious, 2011s Fast Five and 2013s Fast & Furious 6  all again feature Han, with this trilogy being set before the events of Tokyo Drift. Fast & Furious 6, though, finally brings us up to speed (no pun intended)  with his girlfriend Gisele (Gal Gadot) having been killed, Han finally makes good on his much reiterated promise of relocating to Tokyo. In that films post-credits scene, we revisit his car crash as seen in Tokyo Drift  but with a twist, as its revealed that Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) was behind the wheel of the Mercedes which t-boned Han, acting to avenge his brother Owen (Luke Evans) who, in Fast 6, had gone up against Han, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and the gang and come out on the losing side. Han was then presumed dead in 2015s Furious 7 and 2017s The Fate of the Furious, but this years F9 ret-cons the events of Tokyo Drift for a second time, revealing that Han in fact survived the explosion with the help of a recurring character in the Fast franchise, intelligence operative Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell). On a mission that leads them to Tokyo, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and Mia (Jordana Brewster) discover that Han is not only still alive but has an adopted daughter, Elle (Anna Sawai). Han explains that Gisele was actually working for Mr. Nobody and that, in the wake of her death, he was approached by the spy to join the ranks of his covert ops team. Feeling directionless in the wake of Giseles death and looking for purpose, Han agrees. Universal  In order to become a covert super spy, Han fakes his death  he and Mr. Nobody had known that Deckard Shaw was heading to Tokyo with vengeance on his mind (how exactly is not explained  a tip-off from within the intelligence community presumably) and used this as an opportunity to stage Hans demise in the car crash. (Again, the specifics of how Han escaped the burning wreck in the seconds between the crash and it exploding are not revealed  his escape is simply referred to as a magic trick devised by Mr. Nobody. You decide!) Han adopted Elle while on a mission for Mr. Nobody  her parents were murdered by terrorists seeking to gain control of a device which Elles scientist parents had invented, which would allow the user to control every digital device in the world, with Han then executing the terrorists and saving Elle, who became his ward. In F9, Han rejoins Dominic Torettos crew and helps to stop Doms long-lost brother Jakob (John Cena) from using the device invented by Elles parents to unleash havoc. He also reunites with Sean Boswell from Tokyo Drift, who likewise returns in the latest Fast film and is overjoyed to discover that his old friend is alive after all. Thats not quite the end to Hans story so far, though  in a post-credits scene, Deckard Shaw returns and gets the fright of his life when Han shows up on his doorstep. (OK, so Han didnt actually die in that crash, but hes still probably pretty miffed that Shaw attempted to kill him.) Well have to wait until the next instalment in the Fast saga to find out whats next for Han and whether well get any more clarification on the details surrounding his miraculous resurrection, or whether fans will just have to make do with spy stuff as an explanation  Advertisement  Read more: How the Fast & Furious series became Hollywoods most important franchise  Fast & Furious 9 is out now in cinemas  find out how to rewatch all the Fast & Furious movies in order, read our Fast & Furious 9 review, visit our Movies hub for the latest news and features, or find something to watch tonight with our TV Guide.