The Fast & Furious franchise has introduced a lot of beloved characters over its 11-movie run, but Han is the series’ greatest addition. His appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift made him an instant fan favorite, so much so that the franchise altered the entire Fast & Furious timeline for his character. To have Han reappear in the franchise, Tokyo Drift was retroactively turned into a sequel that takes place after the events of Furious 6. Even after that, the series found inventive ways to bring him back.
It’s no wonder why Han became such a fan favorite. Sung Kang’s performance as Han Lue (aka Han Seoul-Oh) strikes the perfect balance of humor and heart that the Fast franchise is known for. Maybe even more importantly, he manages to remain effortlessly cool even in the face of danger, whether he’s facing off against the Tokyo Yakuza or getting into a fistfight on top of a moving car. Although Han’s role in the series is limited compared to some of the other characters, he’s made a massive impact on the story and has countless iconic moments.
Fast & Furious 6 is full of great action set pieces. During the chase scene on the Spanish military base, Dom’s crew is given the impossible task of stopping Shaw’s team from getting away with the Nightshade device, which they’re transporting across a highway in a massive tank. Han and Gisele speed off on motorcycles to try and stop the transport, but when Gisele is nearly crushed against the side of an oncoming truck, Han is forced to literally leap into action. He jumps from his motorcycle into the speeding car and grabs the wheel just in time to save Gisele.
This diversion also gives Gisele enough time to pull a gun on Shaw’s henchman, allowing her and Han to take control of the car. Although Gisele and Han may have seemed like an unlikely pairing when they were first introduced as teammates, scenes like this prove how well they work together and how much love and trust is shared between them. Hopefully, this dynamic will be explored even more after the reveal that Gisele is alive in Fast X.
Family is one of the biggest themes in the Fast franchise. Dom’s team operates as a family, which makes it even more impactful that while Han was forced to stay away from one family for years, he found someone else to care for. It’s revealed in F9 that Han was recruited by Mr. Nobody in Tokyo. He was assigned to recover a device called Project Aries, but after the scientists who created the project were killed and Han learned that the key to unlocking the device was their daughter, Elle, he took it upon himself to protect and raise her.
The scene where Han rescues Elle isn’t just a cool showcase for his fighting skills. It also demonstrates what makes Han so special as a character. He cares deeply about people and is willing to risk himself to keep others safe. Knowing that he remained in hiding for years not just for his own safety, but to protect his adopted daughter completely recontextualizes his absence from the previous movies.
It’s almost a running joke in the series that Gisele and Han will travel anywhere in the world together except for Tokyo, because viewers know that Tokyo is where Han supposedly died. At the start of Fast & Furious 6, the couple is enjoying a date night in a Hong Kong marketplace. Their heartfelt discussion about settling down together quickly gets off track when the police arrive. Although the police are only trying to pass along a call from Dom, Han and Gisele instinctively engage in a well-coordinated standoff, which is one of the coolest scenes in the movie.
Not only does this moment provide a great bit of fight choreography, but it perfectly illustrates the dynamic between Han and Gisele. They’re family who always have each other’s backs, especially in the face of danger. The scene also emphasizes Han’s desire to settle down with Gisele, which makes her fate at the end of the movie even more tragic.
Although The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is considered an outlier in the franchise because it doesn’t feature Brian or Dom (except for a brief appearance in the end credits sequence), Han’s death in the movie ended up being one of the most impactful moments in the series. Han’s death deeply affects Sean and leads him to challenge Takashi to a dangerous race in the mountains leading to the film’s climax. In the grand scheme of the franchise, Han’s Tokyo Drift death also sets up Shaw’s involvement in the series and lays the groundwork for Mr. Nobody and Project Aries.
But setting aside those impacts, Han’s crash is simply a heartwrenching scene. Even with a limited amount of screentime in Tokyo Drift, Han was instantly loveable, and it hurts to see such a dynamic character die painfully – even if, in hindsight, viewers know that he doesn’t really die. If Han hadn’t been such a fan favorite in the film, viewers wouldn’t have demanded him to return, and the franchise would look completely different than it does today.
Most viewers don’t instantly consider romance when they think of the Fast & Furious franchise, but the series has delivered some genuinely sweet and touching love stories during its run. Han’s romance with Gisele is secretly one of the biggest driving forces behind his character. Their scene at the end of Fast Five features some incredibly unsafe driving practices, but it’s also a tender moment between two typically guarded characters.
Instead of spending their heist earnings on gambling or parties like some of the other characters do, they choose to use their money to travel the world together. The scene is a reminder of how the Fast franchise is, at its heart, a story about the different forms that family can take. Seeing these two characters drive off into the sunset is a perfect note to end the film on.
Han’s return to the franchise was emotional. There were eight years between his last on-screen appearance in Furious 6 and his long-awaited return in F9, so the scene had big expectations to live up to. While the characters had been through a lot since they’d last seen their friend, they clearly hadn’t forgotten about Han, leading to one of the most touching and cathartic moments in the franchise.
Tej and Roman’s stunned reactions to Han’s reappearance are both funny and heartfelt, and his hug with Dom shows a softer side to both of the characters. Even Ramsey, who had never met Han at that point, reacts in a way that made it clear she’d been told about how important he was. These emotional reactions emphasize Han’s importance to the family and how much he had been missed by the characters – and by the franchise overall.
The #JusticeForHan movement was launched after Shaw, who was thought to have killed Han, was accepted as a member of Dom’s family – or at the very least, an ally to the crew. Even after learning that Han didn’t really die in the crash, fans had conflicting feelings about someone who was thought to have murdered a beloved character being forgiven so easily. With all of that in mind, the eventual confrontation between Shaw and Han was already primed to be dramatic, and Fast X delivered with an incredible fight scene.
Although Han doesn’t have any hard feelings, Shaw automatically assumes that Han is there for revenge. This leads to a quick and brutal brawl, and Han’s hilarious line “You ruined my snacks” after Shaw knocks a bag of chips out of his hand. However, their fight is interrupted as Agency members swarm Shaw’s warehouse, and they’re forced to team up to defeat the bigger threat. Through this experience, they overcome their past issues and develop a sense of trust for each other, which becomes crucial later in the movie. The fight scene is thrilling and explains why the characters’ relationship evolves so quickly.
It’s rare to see a hero lose a fight in the Fast franchise, which makes the subway fight in Furious 6 even more of a standout moment. Although in the past, Han has shown that he has some impressive fighting skills, he and Roman quickly realize that they’re no match for Owen’s henchman. Although the fight is 2-against-1, Han and Roman end up getting badly beaten. Even their attempts at teamwork backfire when Roman accidentally misaims a punch and knocks Han out momentarily.
It’s one of the most realistic moments in the franchise, which has shown much more improbable fights go off without a hitch. The scene is a hilarious and rare example of a fight gone wrong and proves that the characters of the Fast franchise can still be heroic without winning every single fight.
Han’s friendship with Sean in Tokyo Drift perfectly encapsulates what makes him such a great character. After Sean asks Han why he trusted an inexperienced racer with his expensive car, Han responds, “I have money. It’s trust and character that I need around me.” This sums up Han’s entire outlook on life and sets the basis for him helping Sean become a part of the Tokyo racing scene, eventually connecting him to Dom and the rest of the family.
The training scene highlights what makes their friendship so great. Han’s annoyance and enthusiasm as Sean slowly picks up the basics of drifting is both funny and touching, striking that balance that the Fast franchise does so well. The sequence also establishes why Han’s later death hits Sean so hard and motivates him to participate in the final race of the film.