Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Hobbs & Shaw,
Fast & Furious franchise. In doing so, one of the primary goals of the movie - outside of entertainment of course - was establishing its own corner of this universe to explore.
Hobbs & Shaw is full of world-building over its more than two-hour runtime, as almost every location and character are brand new. It establishes get spinoffs of their own, but they aren't even the biggest additions to the cast.
Ryan Reynolds makes his surprising debut in Hobbs & Shaw early on in the movie. He plays Locke, a CIA agent sent to recruit Luke Hobbs on the world-saving mission. They have a shared history - as evidenced by their matching tattoos - and the CIA makes Locke a handler for Hobbs. Reynolds is an A-list star after the success of the Deadpool franchise, so why is he playing a side surprise role in Hobbs & Shaw? Well, it's because he has a few ties with the people who made the movie.
The most significant connecting point that Reynolds has with Hobbs & Shaw is through the film's director, David Leitch. While he got his start as a director with Netflix action movie where he will co-star with Johnson and Gal Gadot.
Despite these ties, it does appear that Reynolds' role in Hobbs & Shaw was filmed late in the game. He only has a handful of scenes in the actual movie, but all of them take place in the same restaurant location. When he reappears in production wrapped the day before, so this is likely one final pickup shot that was done with Reynolds just for fun.
Now that Reynolds is established as part of the Hobbs & Shaw franchise, there's a real possibility that Locke will appear in a possible sequel. If he does, then a more prominent role is probably in play too. This would allow the marketing to let audiences know that Reynolds is part of the ensemble and adding to the action and insult-fueled banter. Whether or not this does happen though will depend on how Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw performs around the world, but even if the spinoff doesn't earn enough to warrant a sequel, Reynolds could always the main series instead.
