Fast & Furious 6 plot details revealed

Cape Town - The Fast and the Furious franchise is revving up for its sixth instalment, and a ghost from anti-hero Dominic Toretto's past returns to shake things up.

Fast & Furious 6 will see Vin Diesel (Toretto), Paul Walker (Brian O'Conner), Jordana Brewster (Mia Toretto) and Dwayne Johnson (Luke Hobbs) – who made his first appearance in 2011's Fast Five – reunite for the hit franchise built on speed.

The first trailer for the film also revealed the return of Michelle Rodriguez (Letty) as Dom's love interest – who was assumed to have died in 2009's Fast & Furious – but was revealed to still be an active FBI target in the mid-credits secret ending of Fast Five.

New cast members

Also re-joining the team are Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges and Elsa Pataky, as well as newcomers Luke Evans (The Three Musketeers) and Gina Carano (Haywire).

Universal Pictures has released new photographs from Fast & Furious 6 and revealed the plot synopsis from the upcoming action-thriller:

"Since Dom and Brian's Rio heist toppled a kingpin's empire and left their crew with $100 million, our heroes have scattered across the globe. But their inability to return home and living forever on the lam have left their lives incomplete. 

"Meanwhile, Hobbs has been tracking an organisation of lethally skilled mercenary drivers across 12 countries, whose mastermind (Evans) is aided by a ruthless second-in-command revealed to be the love Dom thought was dead, Letty. The only way to stop the criminal outfit is to outmatch them at street level, so Hobbs asks Dom to assemble his elite team in London. Payment? Full pardons for all of them so they can return home and make their families whole again."

Fast 6 sees director Justin Lin back behind the camera for the fourth time in the franchise.

Fast & Furious 6 is set for release on 24 May.

Watch the explosive extended trailer here.