Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Vin Diesel featured together in the Fast and Furious franchise following Fast Five. The film was released in 2011 and the film turned out to be one of the best movies in the franchise. The film led to the golden age of the franchise, leading to the success of Fast and Furious 6 and Furious Seven. All the following films featured Johnson as Luke Hobbs. These movies also showed that Luke Hobbs had a good relationship with the rest of the cast in the film.
Vin Diesel and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
However, the same cannot be said about the off-screen relationship. A post shared by the Jumanji star praising the cast of the film led many to believe that there is some sort of tension between Diesel and Johnson. The reports seem to come true after XXX star shared a response on Instagram with a promise to tell everything soon.

The Tension Between Vin Diesel and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson

Before the release of The Fate of the Furious, Dwayne Johnson shared an Instagram post in which he praised his co-stars. In this post, he also talked about some people without naming anyone. He said, “Some conduct themselves as stand-up men and true professionals, while others don’t. The ones that don’t are too chicken s*it to do anything about it anyway. Candy a*ses.” Johnson later deleted the post.

Following Johnson’s first post,  a TMZ report claimed that the unnamed person The Rock was talking about in his deleted post, was Vin Diesel. The report also mentioned that there was some sort of tension between the two actors.

After the filming for the Fate of the Furious officially wrapped Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson shared another post thanking his co-stars. However, the Red Notice star did not mention Vin Diesel. This led to speculation that although they put their differences aside for the film, there was still tension between them.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
Actress Michelle Rodriguez also confirmed in an interview with People that there was tension between Vin Diesel and Johnson. However, she believed that they care for each other and they will work it out. Following the release of the film, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson discussed his initial post and his dynamics with the Bloodshot star.

Talking to the Los Angeles Times, he said, “I’ve been in the game for a long time. Would Universal [Pictures] have preferred that didn’t happen? Sure, we talked about it. The irony is after that they do their tracking and all their analysis, the interest shot through the roof to a whole other level”

The statement implied that whether it was intended or not, the publicity created by the alleged online feud resulted in good things for the movie. However, he did not mention anything about if he and Diesel were on good terms or not.

Vin Diesel Responds to Dwayne Johnson

While talking to USA Today, Vin Diesel opened up about the issue between him and the Jungle Cruise star. Vin Diesel said that he and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is really close. The Pacifier star further said that Johnson appreciates the work he has put into the franchise.
Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto in Fast and Furious
He further said, “I protect the franchise. I protect everybody, including Dwayne Johnson. I protected Dwayne more than he’ll ever know.” The Multi- Facial star then went on to say that Dwayne Johnson has got one Vin in his life. “Dwayne Johnson only has one big brother in his film world and that’s me,” he said.

The statement was taken as Diesel’s clarification to Dwayne Johnson as only one person is leading the franchise and that was Vin Diesel.

Why Dwayne Johnson Did Not Appear in Fast and Furious 9

Following The Fate of the Furious, a spin-off of Fast and Furious, Hobbs and Shaw, was released. After this, there were certain conflicts among the original cast of the franchise. Some members of the cast said that it was not right to make a series about some specific characters as it focuses on everyone.
Dwayne Johnson with the cast of Fast and Furious
After this Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson did not appear in the next movie Fast and Furious 9. The Rock said that he was unable to feature in the film due to his busy schedule with Hobbs and Shaw. Soon the Black Adam star announced that he would no longer be a part of the Fast and Furious franchise.

However, the Guardian of the Galaxy actor once again made an Instagram post asking Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson to return for the final movie of the franchise.

In his post he mentioned, “My little brother Dwayne… the time has come. The world awaits the finale of Fast 10. As you know, my children refer to you as Uncle Dwayne in my house.” He further mentioned in the post that Johnson needs to return for the finale and that Hobbs cannot be played by anyone else.
Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson
But Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson refused to reprise his role. In an interview with CNN, he said that the met with Vin Diesel and told him that he would not rejoin the franchise. He also said that he did not like the way Diesel brought up his children and the late actor Paul Walker in the post.

Fast and Furious 10 is set to release next year and is reportedly under development without Dwayne Johnson. After Johnson refused to join Fast and Furious 10, fans were certain that they might have worked on their conflicts, but they might not work together on-screen anytime soon.

Fast and Furious 10 is set to release on 19 May 2023.