The surprising thing about this franchise is the absence of black actresses (outside of Nathalie Emmanuel, the hacker girl from Furious 7) in the franchise. One would think that with the film's rap infused soundtrack and racing cars that it would attract a black actress of note into the franchise. Now I don't think they would be able to attract Zoe Saldana (I like her, but no more franchises for her), or Lupita Nyong'o or Gugu Mbatha Raw (both IMO may be a bit too sophisticated for a street racing hip hop infused movie).
Hopefully the success of the franchise will lure a black actress of note to the franchise. I've always thought that Rosario Dawson would be a good addition to the franchise.
This franchise has been around for 15 years and yet only one Black woman in the entire franchise and she wasn't even introduced until Furious 7. As an Asian American, we are highly represented in the franchise with characters like Han, many of the characters in Tokyo Drift, Rick Yune's character in the very first film, Tony Jaa. You've had Black men in Roman, Tej and the characters played by Ja Rule, Djimon Hounsou and Bow Wow as well as Afro-Latinos in Don Omar, Tego Calderon and Laz Alonzo. Vince Diesel and The Rock are part Black. Jordana Brewster, Eva Mendes and Michelle Rodriguez are Latinas. Also a couple of Brits in Jason Statham and Luke Evans. Elsa "Miss Thor" Pataky is Spanish. Gal Gadot is Israeli.
A franchise this diverse in the racial makeup of it's characters has only had one black woman in it's history? How is that possible? Maybe that changes with a black director.