Fast X star Alan Ritchson shares how he admitted to Vin Diesel he’d never seen any Fast & Furious movies before taking a role in the franchise.

Tess and Aimes next to each other in Fast X

Fast Xstar Alan Ritchson discloses he’d never seen any Fast & Furious movies to franchise star Vin Diesel. Ritchson joined Fast X as Aimes, a new member of Mr. Nobody’s agency who has taken on a leadership role. The Fast X star is also best known for his role as Jack Reacher in Prime Video’s Reacher series.

Speaking on The Rich Eisen Show, Ritchson recalled the story of how he told Vin Diesel he’d never seen any Fast & Furious movies before joining the Fast X cast. During his story (which starts at 1:03), Ritchson said Diesel was nice in their encounter but admits he feels like he shouldn’t have said that to the veteran actor. Check out Ritchson’s full statement below:

“I didn’t watch any other ones, and I let Vin know. I go ‘Hey man, I hadn’t really watched any of them. I watched the first one in high school, and now that I got the part I’ve seen them all, and I just love what you’ve been doing with the last two decades.’

And he was like ‘I…thank you. I appreciate that.’ He’s spent 20-plus years of his life, this is his baby! I’ve spent a couple years working on Reacher. It’s such a fixture in my life, if somebody was like ‘Thanks for having me on Reacher, man, I haven’t watched any of them,’ I’d be like ‘You’re the stupidest…why would you say that?!’ And this dude is decades in. I’m an idiot.”

How Fast & Furious Has Evolved Over Time

An image of Vin Diesel and the cast of The Fast and Furious movie

If Ritchson had gone into Fast X armed only with his knowledge of 2001’s The Fast and the Furious, he would have known how the franchise has changed. While The Fast and the Furious was a grounded story about Paul Walker’s Brian O’Conner and Diesel’s Dom Toretto, the franchise has since evolved into bombastic heists and rescue missions. One of its most over-the-top moments was Tyreese Gibson’s Roman and Ludacris’ Tej going to space in F9.

The franchise has also become heavily focused on Dom’s ever-growing family, with the importance of his crew’s bond with one another taking center stage.

While early films in the series, like 2 Fast 2 Furious and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, didn’t focus on Dom, the series weaved their storylines into later entries about his crew. This makes the culmination of the series in Fast X much more impactful.

However, Fast X is only the first of final entries in the Fast & Furious franchise, meaning there are plenty of wild action sequences left to see.

Ritchson will likely return as Aimes following a cliffhanger ending to Fast X. While Ritchson may not have seen any Fast & Furious films before joining Fast X, it’s clear he has an appreciation for the series that will continue to be reflected in later films.