Why Was Keanu Reeves Absent In Hobbs & Shaw?

Keanu Reeves was rumored to be making an Hobbs and Shaw, but he was nowhere to be seen in the final product.

Fast and Furious franchise is expanding, and the series came a long way from 2001 'The Fast and The Furious'. From a movie based on a newspaper article to starting an original franchise which can hold its own against any big movie franchise, it’s been a long ride since the street race-based stories. The movies are bigger and more insane then ever so it is only fair the franchise starts to branch out from the original series.

Watch: The trailer for Hobbs & Shaw

This week saw the debut of the first spinoff of the Fast and Furious franchise with Hobbs and Shaw making a $60 million bow at the North American box office and a total gross of $120 million worldwide. And for people who made the trip to see the movie by now know the numerous A-list actors who made cameo appearances in the flick.

During the production of the movie we heard rumors of Keanu Reeves making an appearance in the film and still after the production ended, there were still rumors that Keanu will make a guest cameo appearance in the flick. The movie came and went, and there was no Keanu anywhere in the vicinity of the film. The fact David Leitch was directing the movie, and he was the uncredited director of John Wick which in all practicality rejuvenated Keanu Reeves’ career got us all expectant for a Keanu cameo in the movie.

So, what was it? Was it just a joke by the directors and writers to build hype for the movie? If it were any other director talking about a Keanu cameo then yes it would’ve been a publicity attempt, trying to take advantage of the “Internet’s Boyfriend.” But as it turns out, the director and actor were closer to making the cameo appearance a reality. Even after the production ended, Leitch and Keanu were talking, but it didn’t work out as they both wanted it to be. Leitch said;

It all stemmed from the fact that we had talked to Keanu early on. It was even before where we ended up with this draft. I had been talking to Keanu periodically through the shooting of it all and looking for opportunities of where it could be. I also wanted to make sure that it was enough — a real promise for something legitimate in the future — and wasn’t just a stunt casting role.

We started to populate the movie with all these other personalities, and I just didn’t really think that we needed it, although I would’ve loved it. We even talked in post, and I showed him a rough cut of the movie. Then, we had conversations about ‘is there something here?’ We came to the conclusion of ‘let’s put a pin in it.’ I’m all for finding opportunities, but I also didn’t want to force anything

This is Keanu Reeves’ year like everyone knows it to be with John Wick 3: Parabellum setting milestones, Toy Story 4 making over $800 million at the box office and a scene-stealing performance in Netflix flick 'Always Be My Maybe'. Keanu is enjoying such fame and love right now and fans started a petition to get him on the cover of Time’s Person of the Year.

Watch: Keanu Reeves' scene stealing performnace in Always Be My Maybe

So, it is understandable every person in Hollywood wants to tap into such rabid fan base, and with the Fast and Furious franchise enjoying such a huge amount of success, it would’ve been an added bonus to have Keanu in the flick.

The question will be which character he was pitched to play in the spinoff? Well, in the movie he was pitched the character of the head of Eteon which people were theorizing would be played by John Cena. The villainous boss of a company hell-bent on killing weaker people, 'Brixton' played by Idris Elba turned out to be only a pawn, and we realized there is someone who is even worse than the “Black Superman.” It would’ve been nice to see him work as the villain in a movie, but it didn’t work out, and the director decided to leave the character open-ended for now.

Watch: Idris Elba calls himself the Black Superman

“The mystery at the end of the movie where the Eteon director is nameless and faceless seems perfect for our ending because we had so much story we’ve already told,” Leitch said. “The backstory with Brixton and Shaw, Hobbs reconnecting with Jonah (Cliff Curtis), Shaw reconnecting with Hattie, Locke’s relationship with Hobbs … Dinkley. There was just so much stuff, and we still had to resolve all the family threads. The mystery of what Eteon is and where it’s gonna go was left where it needed to be.”

The way the movie ended, there is a place for Keanu to make an appearance in the future, but it seems the character is just an open-ended mystery now. Keanu making an appearance would’ve been great but here’s hoping he comes around for the sequel.