Michelle Rodriguez Threatens to Leave 'Fast & Furious' Franchise
CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 6/29/2017, 11:48 a.m.
By Chloe Melas
CNN
(CNN) -- Michelle Rodriguez is standing up for her female cast members.
The actress announced on Instagram that she is prepared to leave behind her beloved role as Letty Ortiz in the hit "Fast and the Furious" franchise due to its lack of strong female voices in the series.
"F8 is out digitally today," she wrote in the caption of her Instagram photo. "I hope they decide to show some love to the women of the franchise on the next one or I just might have to say goodbye to a loved franchise. It's been a good ride & I'm grateful for the opportunity the fans & studio have provided over the years ... One Love."
The franchise includes roles for award-winning actresses like Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron but it's still the men who dominate the movies as Rodriguez recently pointed out to Entertainment Weekly.
"On day one, I [changed] the character from being something that I could not do in front of millions of people into a character that I'm actually proud of, but at the end of the day, what message are we sending out there for women?" she said. "It does weigh heavy on my head -- especially in the male-dominated environment that I work in."
Fans seem to agree with Rodriguez and immediately began praising her for speaking out.
King_alima wrote underneath Rodriguez's post: "She has a point though we've never seen her and Mia talk in the entire franchise or have an all girl team up to save the guys or save any guy."
While Serendipity.and.her commented: "You are so right to fight for that Michelle. Fast 8 could have/ should have done so much more with Letty and Ramsey characters ( and do I even start with Mia?) - your action scenes were awesome and Letty and Dom's scenes together are beautiful, but that's not enough!"
Universal Pictures did not immediately respond to CNN's requests for comment.