Michelle Rodriguez addresses those 'Fast and Furious 9' space rumours

Michelle Rodriguez has hinted that Fast & Furious 9 might go to space, suggesting that the franchise’s vehicular mayhem may stretch to the final frontier.

Asked about the long-standing rumours on radio station SiriusXM, the actor behind Dom Toretto’s wife Letty seemed to think somebody had let the cat out of the bag.

Read more: Nathalie Emmanuel says she’d follow Fast & Furious to space

She said: "Oh, no way. How did you guys find that out? See what happens? People start talking behind the scenes, man.

“When a movie doesn't come out and... forget about it, things get out. Nobody was supposed to know that.”

The 42-year-old star may well have been joking, especially as rumours about space have followed the increasingly fantastical Fast franchise for several years.

She did add that she wasn’t “lucky enough to hit space” in this movie, without ruling out the idea that other characters might leave the Earth’s atmosphere.

Read more: Tom Cruise could earn £50m for space film

Rodriguez’s co-star Ludacris also added to the rumour mill in July, hinting on a SiriusXM interview of his own that suggestions about the characters heading into space might be on the money.

It has long been assumed that the Fast movies will eventually make it to space, but the recent announcement that Tom Cruise is heading there for real means they might just be beaten to the punch.

Whether or not Fast & Furious is leaving terra firma, Rodriguez did confirm she was able to lobby producers to bring on a female writer for the ninth movie.

“My biggest fight was getting a female writer and I’m really happy that they were open to it,” she said.

Read more: Rodriguez celebrates birthday on Fast 9 set

The star added: “People just care about themselves usually, or people who look like them or act like them or have the same genitalia, I don’t know. It’s just how it works.

“And so I just know that if I bring up a female writer and she might care a little more about the female story.”

Originally set for a 2019 release, Fast & Furious 9 was shunted down the schedule in order to make way for the Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham spin-off Hobbs & Shaw.

It was then completed in time for a May 2020 release, only to be pushed into 2021 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Read more: Johnson confirms Hobbs & Shaw sequel

Alongside the usual cast members, John Cena has joined the ensemble as Jakob Toretto — the brother of Vin Diesel’s protagonist.

Fast 9 will also address the long-running “Justice for Han” campaign by featuring the return of Sung Kang as Han, who was believed to have been killed by Statham’s character in the post-credits scene of Fast & Furious 6 — a flashback to the 2006 film Tokyo Drift.

The movie is now due to arrive on cinema screens in April 2021, whether it’s heading into space or not.