John Cena buckles up for 'Fast & Furious' 9

Cape Town – John Cena has joined the cast of Fast & Furious for the ninth instalment of the franchise.

On Friday the wrestler turned actor confirmed the news on Twitter after retweeting a story by Deadline about the casting news.

He wrote: "For nearly 20 years, the Fast Franchise has entertained fans and created some of the biggest cinematic moments in history. It's an incredible honour to join this franchise and this family."

John, whose role is still under wraps, will join veterans Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster and Tyrese Gibson who will all reprise their roles.

Michelle's return comes as a surprise as she threatened to quit the franchise because of its male-dominated cast last year. 

The upcoming film has been besieged with some other off-screen drama.

In 2017 Universal announced that the release date for the film would be pushed back from April 2019 to April 2020. (Read more here)

There have also been long-running rumours of a feud between Vin and Dwayne Johnson.

Dwayne and Jason Statham will star in the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw in which they reprise their characters from the franchise. 

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Cape Town - The first trailer for the Fast and Furious spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw is here! Dwayne Johnson who reprises his role as agent Luke Hobbs has been doing a lot hyping since the movie was announced. And from the looks of the trailer this movie is definitely worth all the hype!