Back in June 2019, Metroid Prime 4 developer Retro Studios posted a job opening for the art director of Samus’ next major game. After eight long months, it appears that they’ve finally filled the position with former DICE art director Jhony Ljungstedt. And you thought your job interview process took forever.

First reported by VideoGamesChronicle.com, Ljungstedt previously worked as an art director for EA games such as Battlefield V, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, two Battlefield 3 expansions, and the 2010 Medal of Honor.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/09/12/metroid-1991-vs-metroid-2017"]

It’s currently unconfirmed what project Ljungstedt has been attached to, but considering Metroid Prime 4 is the only known Retro Studios project, and how it lines up with the game’s rebooted development process, it’s the most likely conclusion.

If Ljungstedt is indeed Metroid Prime 4’s new art director, he’ll be responsible for setting the “artistic vision,” collaborating between the art team and Nintendo, and ensuring the project’s art needs can be met on schedule.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-biggest-games-that-werent-at-e3-2019&captions=true"]

Schedules have been a sticky issue for Metroid Prime 4 as of late. Originally announced with nothing but a fancy logo during E3 2017, Metroid Prime 4 ran into a number of significant issues not long after. In Janury 2019, Nintendo announced that the game was restarting development after it failed to reach “the standards we seek in a sequel to the Metroid Prime series." Originally, it was said that Bandai Namco was developing Metroid Prime 4, but the development restart ended up with original Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios taking over the reins.

All of this information, plus Ljungstedt’s hiring, seems to point to Metroid Prime 4 still being a long way off.

Here’s a look at who is (and isn’t) joining Ljungstedt at Retro, including original Metroid Prime producer Kensuke Tanabe. Can’t wait for Metroid Prime 4? Here’s every major game coming in 2020 to help tide you over. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

Damon Lindelof's Watchmen sequel series was a big hit with both viewers and critics this past fall, though a second season remains unlikely without Lindlof returning to shape and showrun it. As HBO programming president Casey Bloys said a few weeks ago, "It would be hard to imagine doing it without Damon involved in some way." And back in December, Lindelof explained, "I’ve consistently believed and still believe that these nine episodes are a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end." Adding, "I don’t have any ideas for subsequent seasons of Watchmen currently." Speaking to Deadline this weekend at the WGA Awards, Lindelof seemed more open to the idea of returning for more Watchmen, though if it happened, it wouldn't be for a few years at least. “I never wanna close the door completely because if two, three years from now I say, I just had another idea, it will be that much harder to open," Lindelof shared. "But I would say it’s barely ajar. I think that there are no current plans to make any more Watchmen." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=watchmen-all-the-comic-book-references-in-the-hbo-series&captions=true"] "If the idea comes, I would be enthusiastic about it," he said. "The idea may not come from me. I would be super excited about it coming from someone else. So my position hasn’t changed." Watchmen was named IGN's TV Series of the Year for 2019 and if you're looking to dig a bit deeper into the show then here are 10 burning questions answered by HBO's "Peteypedia" page. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/17/damon-lindelof-reacts-to-watchmen-being-named-igns-tv-series-of-the-year"] For more TV news, check out SNL's parody of Frozen 2, Always Sunny's Rob McElhenney responding to the Lethal Weapon 5 news, and a closer look at Captain Picard's other First Officer: Michelle Hurd's Raffi Musiker. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

In this weekend's Saturday Night Live, hosted by the Houston Texans' J.J. Watt, Frozen 2 was the target of parody as everything from Elsa's sexuality to the franchise's whitewashing controversy became fair game. In the sketch -- featuring Kate McKinnon as Elsa, Cecily Strong as Anna, Watt as Kristoff, and Kyle Mooney as Olaf -- Frozen 2's "Deleted Scenes" were sampled. Here's the portion of the sketch that SNL posted to Twitter...

Frozen 2: Deleted Scenes #SNL pic.twitter.com/cdiZqbTNyk

— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) February 2, 2020

Despite not being as wildly praised as the first film, Frozen 2 became the highest-grossing animated film of all time, bringing in $1.325 billion at the global box office. Frozen 2 was also the sixth Disney film to cross the billion dollar mark in 2019. Here's a quick rundown of every Disney and Pixar movie on the way (or in the works). [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-upcoming-disney-and-pixar-animated-movie&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

In this weekend's Saturday Night Live, hosted by the Houston Texans' J.J. Watt, Frozen 2 was the target of parody as everything from Elsa's sexuality to the franchise's whitewashing controversy became fair game. In the sketch -- featuring Kate McKinnon as Elsa, Cecily Strong as Anna, Watt as Kristoff, and Kyle Mooney as Olaf -- Frozen 2's "Deleted Scenes" were sampled. Here's the portion of the sketch that SNL posted to Twitter...

Frozen 2: Deleted Scenes #SNL pic.twitter.com/cdiZqbTNyk

— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) February 2, 2020

Despite not being as wildly praised as the first film, Frozen 2 became the highest-grossing animated film of all time, bringing in $1.325 billion at the global box office. Frozen 2 was also the sixth Disney film to cross the billion dollar mark in 2019. Here's a quick rundown of every Disney and Pixar movie on the way (or in the works). [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-upcoming-disney-and-pixar-animated-movie&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Mike Laidlaw, the lead designer of the Dragon Age trilogy, is no longer working at Ubisoft Quebec. Laidlaw made the announcement through Twitter and Linkedin on Friday. He said he will probably turn to consulting work for now, and wished good luck to the team at Ubisoft Quebec. "I’d like to thank the talented and welcoming folks at the Ubisoft Quebec City studio for the time I spent there, and wish them all the best of luck with future ventures including the upcoming Gods and Monsters," Laidlaw said on Linkedin. "I’m not 100% sure what my next steps are just yet, but returning to consulting for a while seems likely. In the meantime, a chance to relax, take stock and enjoy this gorgeous city while continuing to practice my French." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=gods-and-monsters-e3-2019-announcement-trailer-screenshots&captions=true"] Laidlaw joined Ubisoft Quebec in December 2018 after working as a consultant at Ubisoft for months, according to a post on his Linkedin. He joined the studio to work as a creative director on a yet-to-be announced project. The studio would later announce Gods & Monsters in June 2019, but Laidlaw said on Twitter at the time that he was not working on that game. The acclaimed director began working at BioWare and Electronic Arts in 2003. During his time there, Laidlaw served as the senior creative director on the three Dragon Age games and was the lead story developer for Jade Empire. He would leave the position at EA in 2017. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/20/the-biggest-games-coming-in-2020"] Gods & Monsters was set for a release in February, but Ubisoft took it off the date in October 2019. It's now set to come out sometime before April 2021. Representatives for Ubisoft Quebec have called the game their "most open game ever." Ubisoft itself is going through some level of reconstruction. The company is restructuring its editorial team in an effort to encourage more diversity among its games, particularly after the poor sales of Ghost Recon Breakpoint and The Division 2. It's unclear if Laidlaw's departure is a part of those overall changes, and Ubisoft has yet to make any such statement on the matter. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who really needs to get around to playing those Dragon Age games.

Mike Laidlaw, the lead designer of the Dragon Age trilogy, is no longer working at Ubisoft Quebec. Laidlaw made the announcement through Twitter and Linkedin on Friday. He said he will probably turn to consulting work for now, and wished good luck to the team at Ubisoft Quebec. "I’d like to thank the talented and welcoming folks at the Ubisoft Quebec City studio for the time I spent there, and wish them all the best of luck with future ventures including the upcoming Gods and Monsters," Laidlaw said on Linkedin. "I’m not 100% sure what my next steps are just yet, but returning to consulting for a while seems likely. In the meantime, a chance to relax, take stock and enjoy this gorgeous city while continuing to practice my French." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=gods-and-monsters-e3-2019-announcement-trailer-screenshots&captions=true"] Laidlaw joined Ubisoft Quebec in December 2018 after working as a consultant at Ubisoft for months, according to a post on his Linkedin. He joined the studio to work as a creative director on a yet-to-be announced project. The studio would later announce Gods & Monsters in June 2019, but Laidlaw said on Twitter at the time that he was not working on that game. The acclaimed director began working at BioWare and Electronic Arts in 2003. During his time there, Laidlaw served as the senior creative director on the three Dragon Age games and was the lead story developer for Jade Empire. He would leave the position at EA in 2017. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/20/the-biggest-games-coming-in-2020"] Gods & Monsters was set for a release in February, but Ubisoft took it off the date in October 2019. It's now set to come out sometime before April 2021. Representatives for Ubisoft Quebec have called the game their "most open game ever." Ubisoft itself is going through some level of reconstruction. The company is restructuring its editorial team in an effort to encourage more diversity among its games, particularly after the poor sales of Ghost Recon Breakpoint and The Division 2. It's unclear if Laidlaw's departure is a part of those overall changes, and Ubisoft has yet to make any such statement on the matter. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who really needs to get around to playing those Dragon Age games.

Ever wonder what The Last of Us Part II might look like if it came out in the 90’s on the original PlayStation 1? Ponder no further, as an enterprising “demake” game developer has created just such a thing in Dreams, Media Molecule’s stunningly versatile game creation tool.

[caption id="attachment_229636" align="alignnone" width="720"] Created by Bearly Regal in Dreams.[/caption]

Created and posted to YouTube by Bearly Regal, who also remade Cyberpunk 2077 as a PS1 game, The Last of Us Part II PS1 demake is an amusingly accurate recreation of game design and graphics from a bygone polygonal era. Even better, Bearly Regal has added a somber guitar soundtrack to the whole thing, and even included the strained cries of the blind clicker zombies, who themselves are now just gangly-looking, pink humanoid blobs.

The video at the top of the page is a two-minute version of the trailer, but you can check out the full six-minute video, which includes a swarm of blind clicker zombies, on Bearly Regal’s channel.

The Last of Us creative director and Naughty Dog vice president Neil Druckmann himself shared the video on Twitter, praising Bearly Regal's creation for its music.

The music is *chef’s kiss*! Would play! https://t.co/ChNmujmN2u

— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) February 1, 2020

The video demonstration shows off a, well, much blockier version of Ellie wandering through the weedy Seattle suburb streets and houses that we’ve seen in previous actual demo footage of the real The Last of Us Part II. There, Ellie is hunted by a group of human scavengers. In this PS1 remake, we simply see Ellie traverse around a couple of homes and streets before a pack of clickers happen upon her, where she then slowly crawls her way to safety.

One similarity we noticed was Ellie’s ability to clamber out onto the porch roof of one house, giving her a higher vantage point over the scene. It’s similar to a sequence from the real game's demo, where Ellie manages to shoot one enemy human from afar before firebombing and blasting her way through two others from the porch roof. Appropriately enough, the clickers don’t seem to find Ellie unless she makes too much noise.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/13/cyberpunk-1997-playstation-1-demake-teaser-trailer"]

Bearly Regal has become known on YouTube for his “remakes” of major games in Media Molecule’s Dreams, including a PS1 “remake” of Death Stranding, as well as various other recreations of games in LEGO Worlds.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/28/your-most-anticipated-2020-video-games-power-ranking"]

If you’re hungry for more The Last of Us Part II, you can check out our extensive impressions of the most recent gameplay demo. Don’t forget that pre-orders for The Last of Us Part II’s collector’s edition are up, so get yours before it’s gone.

If by some strange circumstance, you’re not excited for The Last of Us Part II, here’s every other PS4 game coming out in 2020 that we’re excited to play.

Ever wonder what The Last of Us Part II might look like if it came out in the 90’s on the original PlayStation 1? Ponder no further, as an enterprising “demake” game developer has created just such a thing in Dreams, Media Molecule’s stunningly versatile game creation tool.

[caption id="attachment_229636" align="alignnone" width="720"] Created by Bearly Regal in Dreams.[/caption]

Created and posted to YouTube by Bearly Regal, who also remade Cyberpunk 2077 as a PS1 game, The Last of Us Part II PS1 demake is an amusingly accurate recreation of game design and graphics from a bygone polygonal era. Even better, Bearly Regal has added a somber guitar soundtrack to the whole thing, and even included the strained cries of the blind clicker zombies, who themselves are now just gangly-looking, pink humanoid blobs.

The video at the top of the page is a two-minute version of the trailer, but you can check out the full six-minute video, which includes a swarm of blind clicker zombies, on Bearly Regal’s channel.

The Last of Us creative director and Naughty Dog vice president Neil Druckmann himself shared the video on Twitter, praising Bearly Regal's creation for its music.

The music is *chef’s kiss*! Would play! https://t.co/ChNmujmN2u

— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) February 1, 2020

The video demonstration shows off a, well, much blockier version of Ellie wandering through the weedy Seattle suburb streets and houses that we’ve seen in previous actual demo footage of the real The Last of Us Part II. There, Ellie is hunted by a group of human scavengers. In this PS1 remake, we simply see Ellie traverse around a couple of homes and streets before a pack of clickers happen upon her, where she then slowly crawls her way to safety.

One similarity we noticed was Ellie’s ability to clamber out onto the porch roof of one house, giving her a higher vantage point over the scene. It’s similar to a sequence from the real game's demo, where Ellie manages to shoot one enemy human from afar before firebombing and blasting her way through two others from the porch roof. Appropriately enough, the clickers don’t seem to find Ellie unless she makes too much noise.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/13/cyberpunk-1997-playstation-1-demake-teaser-trailer"]

Bearly Regal has become known on YouTube for his “remakes” of major games in Media Molecule’s Dreams, including a PS1 “remake” of Death Stranding, as well as various other recreations of games in LEGO Worlds.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/28/your-most-anticipated-2020-video-games-power-ranking"]

If you’re hungry for more The Last of Us Part II, you can check out our extensive impressions of the most recent gameplay demo. Don’t forget that pre-orders for The Last of Us Part II’s collector’s edition are up, so get yours before it’s gone.

If by some strange circumstance, you’re not excited for The Last of Us Part II, here’s every other PS4 game coming out in 2020 that we’re excited to play.

We don't know how he's back, but he's back, baby! Yes, Han Lue (alias "Han Seoul-Oh") returned to the Fast and Furious franchise, appearing the final beats of the Fast 9 trailer that recently dropped. Though there's a lot to enjoy, and marvel at, with regards to the Fast and Furious franchise -- like how it went from an action series about street racing to basically becoming the A-Team franchise that the A-Team movie never manifested to now being such a bonkers cinematic universe that fans easily foresee its heroes venturing into space at some point -- Sung Kang's Han has remained one of the saga's most endearing, and enduring, characters. Which means a lot when you consider that we all watched him die back in the third film, 2006's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/31/f9-fast-furious-9-official-trailer-1"]

HAN LUE

So here's what all went down. Tokyo Drift -- after Vin Diesel had bowed out of 2 Fast 2 Furious, and both Diesel and Paul Walker nixed a third installment -- took us over to Japan where we followed Lucas Black's Sean as he made a fool of himself on the drift racing scene. Overseas, Sean met honorable thief Han (who, through humorous happenstance, might be the same "Han" Sung Kang played in Justin Lin's 2002's crime drama Better Luck Tomorrow). During a chase scene through the streets of Tokyo, Han wrecked his 1997 Mazda RX-7 and died in a fiery explosion. As a way to connect Tokyo Drift more directly to the two previous films however, Universal brought Diesel in for a cameo right at the end (Diesel did this in exchange for getting the rights to do one more Riddick movie) and in that scene it was revealed that Diesel's Dom Toretto had been good friends with Han before his death. Then, in one of the most major instances of the Fast franchise being glorious Retcon Royalty, it was decided that the fourth, fifth, and sixth Fast and Furious films -- Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Fast & Furious 6 -- would take place before Tokyo Drift. With this move, Han could be a part of Dom's crew. This made Han, who was the most enjoyable part of Tokyo Drift (and to many, the only thing worth salvaging from that story), a full member of the franchise while also oddly placing Tokyo Drift as the movie that takes place last (until the story eventually caught up to it with Han's death in the tag at the end of 6). A set of character posters for the F9 cast was revealed a few days ago when the trailer was first teased, and now a new poster featuring Han has been added: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=f9-character-posters&captions=true"] Han then becam a full (past tense) member of Dom's crew, where he fell in love with Gal Gadot's Gisele, who made her first appearance in Fast & Furious (the fourth film). The two became a fan favorite pairing and in Fast & Furious 6 they were both considering leaving the criminal world behind for a shot at a peaceful life together. But when she died at the end of that film (Or did she? SHE ONLY FELL 20 FEET! JUSTICE FOR GISELE!), Han sadly and solemnly returned to Japan...where he then met Sean and wound up dead himself. And in a huge retcon twist, the end of Fast & Furious 6 introduced Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw (brother of the sixth installment's villainous Owen Shaw, played by Luke Evans) and revealed that HE was the one who killed Han. Yes, Deckard was driving a car that rammed into Han's Mazda - as revenge against Dom for capturing, and injuring, Owen. With this move, which set up Statham's Deckard Shaw as Furious 7's Big Bad, the franchise's timeline caught up to Tokyo Drift (which, again, had served as the narrative's furthest future point for six movies) and was proceeding forward in the true "present." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-major-fast-and-furious-character&captions=true"]

JUSTICE FOR HAN  ... AND THE REDEMPTION OF SHAW

Despite the fact that Sung Kang seemed to be just fine bowing out of the franchise at the end of Fast & Furious 6 (see below), fans had a small #JusticeforHan movement going for years. At first because it seemed like a great character had died unceremoniously in service of a much lesser character (Tokyo Drift's Sean) and then because it was revealed he'd been done in by a villain, Deckard Shaw, that the saga quickly sought to redeem and turn into a good guy.

Sung Kang was a lot less excited about seeing Han return seven years ago. pic.twitter.com/JwdAYBNmAJ

— Silas Lesnick (@silaslesnick) January 31, 2020

After Deckard was the main adversary in Furious 7, he lived to become an uneasy ally in The Fate of the Furious (F8) - and was even forgiven by Diesel's Dom at the end of the film. That's right. Dom, Han's best friend in the world, was now totally cool with the dude who murdered Han. The #JusticeforHan hashtag movement was at a fever pitch. Deckard was now getting spun off into his own side franchise, with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Fast and Furious character, Luke Hobbs (who joined the series in Fast Five), and it became super important for the story to find way to basically erase all the awful things Deckard had done in the sixth and seventh movie. In Hobbs & Shaw, they dug into Deckard's past and basically told us that everything we'd learned about him was a lie. He hadn't turned on his own men while part of British special ops. He'd been the one who was turned on. He was a decorated soldier who'd been framed. He wasn't a nasty villain after all. But guess what? This m-effer still killed Han. Hobbs and Shaw could tweak Deckard's dossier all it wanted to, but it couldn't change the ending of Fast & Furious 6. And nothing in F8 or Hobbs and Shaw (even Deckard's fight scene on a plane while holding a baby) could explain why Dom would forgive Deckard. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/01/who-the-hobbs-and-shaw-cast-want-added-to-the-fast-and-furious-series"] Justin Lin, who's now returned to the Fast franchise after directing four films in a row, Tokyo Drift through Fast and Furious 6 (James Wan and F. Gary Grey took the reins for Furious 7 and F8), has now officially brought Han back - the character he created for Tokyo Drift (or maybe Better Luck Tomorrow) and then curated and cared for over the next three films. Talking to EW, Lin said: "When I left after Fast 6, I really thought that was it, like, there’s no more Fast stories I can tell. From then on, I would travel and just meet people and fans of the franchise, and they would tell me why they love the franchise so much and just share their stories. Then two years ago, I woke up with an idea for the new chapter." "Along the way," Lin added, "I hadn’t seen the other two movies, and I was at a Q&A for Better Luck Tomorrow and someone brought up 'Justice for Han,' and so all these things were kind of working together." "Obviously, I have a very personal connection to the [Han] character," Lin explained. "To be able to go through that journey with Han...when I left, I felt it was appropriate and I felt like we were putting the character to bed, but it’s because of some of the things that happened that didn’t quite make sense to me, and so I felt like if I was going to come back, I really wanted to explore why. I think it’s really up to us to bring him back and explore it throughout the themes that we’re all used to." Now that Han is alive...is Deckard Shaw finally, fully, redeemed?

HOW IS HAN ALIVE?

Han's alive? How is this possible? Look, we're now at a point in the Fast franchise where Han's return is an easy-peasy explanation. It would be one of the least crazy things this series has done. Even Michelle Rodriguez's Letty was once killed off and brought back! All they had to do was go back and show us that she'd been pulled from the wreck we thought she'd died in. The same could happen here, obviously. It could be as simple as showing us Han crawl out of the overturned Mazda before it blows up. Or some new character rescuing him from it. Maybe it was John Cena's Jakob Toretto, Dom's young brother (as revealed in the new trailer)? [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/07/31/fast-furious-presents-hobbs-shaw-review"] Or...and this was a theory that popped up after last summer's spinoff, Hobbs and Shaw...what if Han is now part machine? Yes, folks, there was a strong #CyborgHan movement after it was revealed in Hobbs and Shaw that the organization Eteon exists. Eteon -- run by a mystery character who has some connection to Luke Hobbs (his dad?) -- is a terrorist group specializes in "transhumanism." It's soldiers are enhanced and improved with cybernetic and mechanical implants. Could Han's return tie into Eteon? Is Han back as a result of robotic design? Yes, it would mean the core Fast saga would be dabbling in the side story set-up in Hobbs and Shaw, but it could happen! What are your theories on how Han is back and what this mean for Shaw? Let us know in the comments! [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

We don't know how he's back, but he's back, baby! Yes, Han Lue (alias "Han Seoul-Oh") returned to the Fast and Furious franchise, appearing the final beats of the Fast 9 trailer that recently dropped. Though there's a lot to enjoy, and marvel at, with regards to the Fast and Furious franchise -- like how it went from an action series about street racing to basically becoming the A-Team franchise that the A-Team movie never manifested to now being such a bonkers cinematic universe that fans easily foresee its heroes venturing into space at some point -- Sung Kang's Han has remained one of the saga's most endearing, and enduring, characters. Which means a lot when you consider that we all watched him die back in the third film, 2006's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/31/f9-fast-furious-9-official-trailer-1"]

HAN LUE

So here's what all went down. Tokyo Drift -- after Vin Diesel had bowed out of 2 Fast 2 Furious, and both Diesel and Paul Walker nixed a third installment -- took us over to Japan where we followed Lucas Black's Sean as he made a fool of himself on the drift racing scene. Overseas, Sean met honorable thief Han (who, through humorous happenstance, might be the same "Han" Sung Kang played in Justin Lin's 2002's crime drama Better Luck Tomorrow). During a chase scene through the streets of Tokyo, Han wrecked his 1997 Mazda RX-7 and died in a fiery explosion. As a way to connect Tokyo Drift more directly to the two previous films however, Universal brought Diesel in for a cameo right at the end (Diesel did this in exchange for getting the rights to do one more Riddick movie) and in that scene it was revealed that Diesel's Dom Toretto had been good friends with Han before his death. Then, in one of the most major instances of the Fast franchise being glorious Retcon Royalty, it was decided that the fourth, fifth, and sixth Fast and Furious films -- Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Fast & Furious 6 -- would take place before Tokyo Drift. With this move, Han could be a part of Dom's crew. This made Han, who was the most enjoyable part of Tokyo Drift (and to many, the only thing worth salvaging from that story), a full member of the franchise while also oddly placing Tokyo Drift as the movie that takes place last (until the story eventually caught up to it with Han's death in the tag at the end of 6). A set of character posters for the F9 cast was revealed a few days ago when the trailer was first teased, and now a new poster featuring Han has been added: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=f9-character-posters&captions=true"] Han then becam a full (past tense) member of Dom's crew, where he fell in love with Gal Gadot's Gisele, who made her first appearance in Fast & Furious (the fourth film). The two became a fan favorite pairing and in Fast & Furious 6 they were both considering leaving the criminal world behind for a shot at a peaceful life together. But when she died at the end of that film (Or did she? SHE ONLY FELL 20 FEET! JUSTICE FOR GISELE!), Han sadly and solemnly returned to Japan...where he then met Sean and wound up dead himself. And in a huge retcon twist, the end of Fast & Furious 6 introduced Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw (brother of the sixth installment's villainous Owen Shaw, played by Luke Evans) and revealed that HE was the one who killed Han. Yes, Deckard was driving a car that rammed into Han's Mazda - as revenge against Dom for capturing, and injuring, Owen. With this move, which set up Statham's Deckard Shaw as Furious 7's Big Bad, the franchise's timeline caught up to Tokyo Drift (which, again, had served as the narrative's furthest future point for six movies) and was proceeding forward in the true "present." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-major-fast-and-furious-character&captions=true"]

JUSTICE FOR HAN  ... AND THE REDEMPTION OF SHAW

Despite the fact that Sung Kang seemed to be just fine bowing out of the franchise at the end of Fast & Furious 6 (see below), fans had a small #JusticeforHan movement going for years. At first because it seemed like a great character had died unceremoniously in service of a much lesser character (Tokyo Drift's Sean) and then because it was revealed he'd been done in by a villain, Deckard Shaw, that the saga quickly sought to redeem and turn into a good guy.

Sung Kang was a lot less excited about seeing Han return seven years ago. pic.twitter.com/JwdAYBNmAJ

— Silas Lesnick (@silaslesnick) January 31, 2020

After Deckard was the main adversary in Furious 7, he lived to become an uneasy ally in The Fate of the Furious (F8) - and was even forgiven by Diesel's Dom at the end of the film. That's right. Dom, Han's best friend in the world, was now totally cool with the dude who murdered Han. The #JusticeforHan hashtag movement was at a fever pitch. Deckard was now getting spun off into his own side franchise, with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Fast and Furious character, Luke Hobbs (who joined the series in Fast Five), and it became super important for the story to find way to basically erase all the awful things Deckard had done in the sixth and seventh movie. In Hobbs & Shaw, they dug into Deckard's past and basically told us that everything we'd learned about him was a lie. He hadn't turned on his own men while part of British special ops. He'd been the one who was turned on. He was a decorated soldier who'd been framed. He wasn't a nasty villain after all. But guess what? This m-effer still killed Han. Hobbs and Shaw could tweak Deckard's dossier all it wanted to, but it couldn't change the ending of Fast & Furious 6. And nothing in F8 or Hobbs and Shaw (even Deckard's fight scene on a plane while holding a baby) could explain why Dom would forgive Deckard. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/01/who-the-hobbs-and-shaw-cast-want-added-to-the-fast-and-furious-series"] Justin Lin, who's now returned to the Fast franchise after directing four films in a row, Tokyo Drift through Fast and Furious 6 (James Wan and F. Gary Grey took the reins for Furious 7 and F8), has now officially brought Han back - the character he created for Tokyo Drift (or maybe Better Luck Tomorrow) and then curated and cared for over the next three films. Talking to EW, Lin said: "When I left after Fast 6, I really thought that was it, like, there’s no more Fast stories I can tell. From then on, I would travel and just meet people and fans of the franchise, and they would tell me why they love the franchise so much and just share their stories. Then two years ago, I woke up with an idea for the new chapter." "Along the way," Lin added, "I hadn’t seen the other two movies, and I was at a Q&A for Better Luck Tomorrow and someone brought up 'Justice for Han,' and so all these things were kind of working together." "Obviously, I have a very personal connection to the [Han] character," Lin explained. "To be able to go through that journey with Han...when I left, I felt it was appropriate and I felt like we were putting the character to bed, but it’s because of some of the things that happened that didn’t quite make sense to me, and so I felt like if I was going to come back, I really wanted to explore why. I think it’s really up to us to bring him back and explore it throughout the themes that we’re all used to." Now that Han is alive...is Deckard Shaw finally, fully, redeemed?

HOW IS HAN ALIVE?

Han's alive? How is this possible? Look, we're now at a point in the Fast franchise where Han's return is an easy-peasy explanation. It would be one of the least crazy things this series has done. Even Michelle Rodriguez's Letty was once killed off and brought back! All they had to do was go back and show us that she'd been pulled from the wreck we thought she'd died in. The same could happen here, obviously. It could be as simple as showing us Han crawl out of the overturned Mazda before it blows up. Or some new character rescuing him from it. Maybe it was John Cena's Jakob Toretto, Dom's young brother (as revealed in the new trailer)? [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/07/31/fast-furious-presents-hobbs-shaw-review"] Or...and this was a theory that popped up after last summer's spinoff, Hobbs and Shaw...what if Han is now part machine? Yes, folks, there was a strong #CyborgHan movement after it was revealed in Hobbs and Shaw that the organization Eteon exists. Eteon -- run by a mystery character who has some connection to Luke Hobbs (his dad?) -- is a terrorist group specializes in "transhumanism." It's soldiers are enhanced and improved with cybernetic and mechanical implants. Could Han's return tie into Eteon? Is Han back as a result of robotic design? Yes, it would mean the core Fast saga would be dabbling in the side story set-up in Hobbs and Shaw, but it could happen! What are your theories on how Han is back and what this mean for Shaw? Let us know in the comments! [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.