The Fast and Furious franchise spinoff is bringing us down of a new road.

"Hobbs and Shaw" will be the start of a fresh franchise -- and a "bit more grounded" one, according to David Leitch. The director recently discussed his plans for the upcoming film with Collider, and he clearly sees big things ahead. In order to make sure they happen, he's very deliberately setting up Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham's first adventure as title characters Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw.

"It's an origin story, in a sense," Leitch told Collider of the spinoff. "It's not an origin story, but we're starting a franchise. So we want it to be a little bit more grounded, a little bit more character-centric."

Instead of being all about the action, the plan is for the spinoff to also explore the relationship between Hobbs, a Diplomatic Security Service agent, and Shaw, a British military officer-turned-mercenary, during their adventure.

"We're going to set up the stakes for these guys and their relationship, but we're also going to have some great set pieces and some action that you'd expect from that type of franchise," Leitch said.

In particular, he says their chemistry is "sort of what's driving the movie" and that they'll "build on their relationship, their conflict, their banter." The two have shown off that chemistry in two Fast and Furious films so far, both as rivals and while working together. Given that Leitch already has eyes to the future, we suspect it will play into a long-term relationship.

"Hobbs and Shaw" plot details remain under wraps. Unfortunately, that means we don't know yet what kind of trials and triumphs the two characters may face together. We do know, however, we'll get to "lean more into their worlds," as Leitch recently told CinemaBlend, and he'll keep them more grounded -- at least for now.

"Hobbs and Shaw" is scheduled to hit theaters Aug. 2, 2019.

[via: Collider]