The Fast and Furious franchise is expanding beyond sequels, theme park attractions, and spin-offs with news that Netflix is bringing an animated offshoot to the world. The as yet untitled Fast and Furious Animated Series will centre on Dominic Toretto's teenage cousin Tony who "follows in the footsteps of Dom when he and his friends are recruited by a government agency to infiltrate an elite racing league serving as a front for a nefarious criminal organisation bent on world domination."

Here's what Netlfix's Melissa Cobb said about the forthcoming series in the official announcement.

"We are thrilled to take our fantastic partnership with DreamWorks Animation to the next level with new opportunities from the vast library of Universal Pictures. The Fast & Furious franchise is a global phenomenon beloved by audiences of all ages, and we can't wait to get started on the new animated series that will capture the action, heart, humor and global appeal of the feature films."

Netflix has enjoyed a long working partnership with Dreamworks Animation producing TV spin-offs from Madagascar (All Hail King Julian), The Croods, How To Train Your Dragon, Trolls, and Boss Baby. Some of these shows serve as sequels or prequels to the movies that spawned them, but Fast & Furious is setting up an entirely fresh set of characters. As he'll be involved in the show as an executive producer, Vin Diesel could make a cameo as Dom at some point in the series.

Across eight movies, the Fast & Furious franchise has generated more than $5 billion worldwide and shows no signs of slowing down with two further sequels and a spin-off led by Dwayne Johnson on the way. Here's hoping they have more success with this animated spin-off than the short-lived James Bond Jr cartoon series from the early 90s, and yes, that really was something that happened.