The rumors are true: Vin Diesel recently told THR that the sixth and seventh Fast and Furious movies — presumably titled Fast Six and Fast Seven, but who even knows with these things — will be shot back-to-back. Ignoring the fact that it could make a lot of money in such a short period of time, the reasoning behind this comes down to the “success of this last one, and the inclusion of so many characters, and the broadening of scope.” With all of that being addressed, the script “just went beyond 110 pages.”

Diesel wouldn’t say if the two are connected — like the Matrix sequels, for example — or if the seventh acts as a traditional follow-up, but with the two being “written simultaneously,” I’m betting on the former. (Chris Morgan was hired to write a sixth film in mid-April.) Past reports claimed that Europe would serve as the setting this time around, and some teases at the end of Fast Five (which I have not seen but read about on Wikipedia) leave room for several plot points in a series that’s often been lacking such.

This is normally where I’d complain about a major studio funding back-to-back installments of a series that doesn’t hold much value past initial entertainment, but I also think you could do a lot worse than the Fast and Furious franchise. I won’t see them whenever they hit theaters, but it’s better to ignore than be annoyed, basically. But if they actually do bring Jason Statham along for the ride (it was too easy, sew me), I’d actually have some reason to keep an eye out.

Are you interested in Fast Six and Fast Seven, especially when they’re so close together?