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FAST AND FURIOUS 9 “Cardi B Meets Vin Diesel” Trailer (2021)

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Cardi B is Dom Toretto’s past come back around, and she’s bringing an all-female squad with her.

Universal Pictures dropped a promotional featurette in mid-June 2021 giving fans an official first look at Cardi B’s role in “F9,” the ninth mainline entry in the Fast & Furious saga directed by Justin Lin. The clip pairs behind-the-scenes footage with Cardi B breaking down her character, Leysa, a “powerful, strong woman” with a conceited streak and a history with Dom Toretto that predates the events of the franchise’s later films. With “F9” set for a June 25, 2021 U.S. release and already sitting near $300 million at the international box office, the featurette was Universal’s way of building buzz around one of the cast’s most talked-about additions.

• Cardi B’s casting was first revealed by Vin Diesel in October 2019, on the 86th day of “F9” production in the UK, after he personally reached out to bring her into the franchise.
• Cardi B plays Leysa, described in the featurette as a stylish, formidable ally with a shared past with Dom Toretto, arriving in tactical gear alongside an all-female squad.
• Leysa’s crew joins the Toretto family’s fight against Dom’s estranged brother Jakob (John Cena) and returning villain Cipher (Charlize Theron).

Vin Diesel Made the Decision

According to the account laid out around the featurette’s release, Diesel didn’t leave the Cardi B casting to a studio email chain. He rang her up himself during production, and her reaction was immediate enthusiasm rather than hesitation. That personal touch fits Diesel’s long-standing role behind the scenes as producer, not just star, of the franchise — he’s the one who has fought to keep expanding the “family” both on-screen and in the credits.

The reveal itself came at a specific, franchise-tracked milestone: day 86 of shooting in the UK, back in October 2019, well before anyone had a release date locked in given the pandemic delays that would follow. That kind of granular production detail is standard for a series that treats its shoot diary almost like a sports beat, with fans tracking every cast announcement.

The Identity of Leysa

In the featurette, Cardi B lays out her own read on the character rather than leaving it to marketing copy. She calls Leysa a “powerful, strong woman” with a conceited flair — someone who knows exactly how good she is and isn’t shy about it. The clip’s behind-the-scenes footage shows her going toe-to-toe with Diesel on set, and the film’s previews position Leysa as connected to Dom’s past well before the crew’s current war with Jakob and Cipher.

She’s a powerful, strong woman, and she’s a little conceited, too — but that history with Dom is real.

That backstory matters for where Leysa fits into “F9’s” plot. She doesn’t show up as a random guest star; she arrives in tactical gear leading her own all-female squad, stepping in to help the Toretto crew take on Jakob (John Cena) and Cipher (Charlize Theron) — the same Cipher who’s been the franchise’s primary antagonist since “The Fate of the Furious.” Fans looking for more of Theron’s turn as Cipher can also revisit the earlier trailer drop for The Old Guard, another entry in her run of steely action roles around this same period.

The Numbers Behind the Release

By the time this featurette hit entertainment channels like ONE Media, “F9” was already pulling in serious money overseas — nearly $300 million internationally before its domestic bow. That’s a notable head start for a franchise entry landing June 25, 2021, in U.S. theaters, especially with pandemic-era moviegoing still finding its footing. The international haul alone signaled that audiences were ready to return to theaters for exactly this kind of big, loud spectacle, and Universal leaned into cast reveals like Cardi B’s to keep that momentum building stateside.

For a franchise built on stacking star power — Diesel, Cena, Theron, and now Cardi B all in the same ensemble — the Leysa reveal was less about a single scene and more about proving the “family” concept could keep absorbing new names without losing what made the earlier films work. Readers tracking other big 2021 blockbuster rollouts can see the same marketing playbook at work in the trailer coverage for Eternals, where studios used staggered featurettes to build cast intrigue ahead of release.

Cardi B’s Leysa doesn’t get a mid-credits tease or a spinoff announcement in this featurette — just tactical gear, an all-female crew, and a promise that Dom’s past is about to walk back into his life days before “F9” actually opens on June 25.