Sung Kang is returning as Han for F9, and one of Han’s fake names in the Fast & Furious franchise is the best Easter egg of the series. Han made his debut in the franchise all the way back in 2006’s Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift. As a longtime collaborator with director Justin Lin, Sung Kang was brought into the fold to play the charming driver. Despite his apparent death in that film, Han returned for the next three films, only for his death to be shown again at the end of Fast & Furious 6.
These additional appearances by Han were used to help tie together the various stories that the Fast & Furious franchise was telling. Along the way to box office dominance, these movies began operating like a shared universe. Through various references and Easter eggs, the Fast Saga became more connected than ever before. But, the franchise has also included an assortment of other Easter eggs over the years that reference Marvel or actors’ other films, like the reference to Jason Statham’s The Italian Job in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.
However, the best Easter egg that the franchise has included is one of Han’s alias. In Furious 7, Han’s file is shown for a brief second and his last name is an incredible reference to another charismatic rogue. The file says his full name is Han Seoul-Oh, a clever nod to Harrison Ford’s iconic Star Wars character Han Solo. While many would rightfully think this is Han’s full name, that is not the case according to Justin Lin, who clarified on social media that Han Seoul-Oh is a fake ID used by Han.
Han playfully referencing the iconic smuggler with this codename just goes to show how big of a fan he is of Han Solo. Unintentionally, there is now another layer of irony to Fast & Furious‘ Han choosing Seoul-Oh to be his last name for his ID. Assuming that the Star Wars movies do exist within the Fast Saga, then both versions of Han obtained their last names because of IDs after Solo: A Star Wars Story revealed Han Solo got his last name because he was traveling alone. But, Han Seoul-Oh may not be aware of that yet depending on how F9 explains his return from the dead.
With Justin Lin claiming that Han Seoul-Oh is a fake name for the character, the truth to Han’s name is more complicated than some may think. Lin isn’t just the only director to use Han in the Fast & Furious franchise, but he and Sung Kang have a working relationship that goes back even further. In Lin’s film Better Luck Tomorrow, Kang stars a character named Han Lue and it is believed that this version of Han is the same one in Fast & Furious. That is not yet confirmed though, so F9 could finally provide some much-needed details on Han’s backstory, especially as it answers how he survived the previous crash.
- F9/Fast & Furious 9 (2020) release date: May 22, 2020
