Fast X's Prototype [SPOILER] Was All Thanks To Jokes About The Franchise's Absurdity

Contains spoilers for "Fast X"

If you've already seen "Fast X," the latest installment in the "Fast & Furious" franchise, you probably remember the moment when a prototype for the upcoming DeLorean Alpha5 appears on screen in a vehicular cameo. Thanks to the car brand's well-known cinematic lineage, it being more famous for the DeLorean DMC-12's use as a time machine in the "Back to the Future" movies, it's possible that for a brief, glorious instant, you thought that perhaps the "F&F" family were going to add time travel to their list of outlandish adventures. As it turns out, that doesn't happen (or at least it hasn't happened yet). But according to "Fast X" director Louis Leterrier, the car's appearance in the film was intended as a joke to that effect.

Leterrier sat down with Collider to discuss the new movie, and the first question right out of the gate had to do with the DeLorean prototype seen in it. "It ended up in the movie because – I don't know if you remember, maybe you didn't follow, but at one point there was a leaked image of the Cannon car that went on the internet, and then people went crazy, and they thought that after going to space, we're going to do time travel," said Leterrier with a laugh. "So like, after space travel was going to be time travel. And then I was like, 'Oh, I will have people go crazy by having the DeLorean pull up with shoes that look like futuristic shoes come out,' and then I was like, 'Oh yeah, let's have fun with it all.'"

In case you're not in the know, the DeLorean Alpha5 is an upcoming electric car carrying the iconic 1980s automotive brand name. Its appearance in "Fast X" is all part of the franchise's tradition of featuring cutting-edge cars, often in prototypical form, on the screen. And according to director Louis Leterrier, it might not have been possible without the clout the series has in the auto industry. "I mean, it's 'Fast & Furious,' so, you know, it's the car movie," Leterrier said. "You have to call a few people. The DeLorean is complex, it's finding who are the right– there's like two DeLorean companies, so we got the one and it was great."

Of course, Leterrier also enthused that the Alpha5 is pretty cool on its own, even apart from its fictional time travel pedigree. "That car is gonna be amazing, it'll be absolutely amazing. It was incredible," the filmmaker said.

Hopefully, this doesn't rule out the possibility of time travel actually becoming part of the "Fast & Furious" universe in the future. Who wouldn't love to hear Vin Diesel chew through the line, "Where we're going, we don't need roads"?

"Fast X" is in theaters now.