Best-known for playing Princess Margaret on the hit Netflix series ‘The Crown’, but now being replaced by Helena Bonham Carter for the third season, Vanessa Kirby has her sights set on a very different role now. The actress is joining the action-packed, car-centred ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise in the series’ first spin-off.

The British actress is in final negotiations to star opposite Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in a film which focusses on and is named after the pair’s characters in the franchise - ‘Hobbs and Shaw’.

One of the highlights of ‘Fast and Furious 8’ was the duo’s prison fight scene so hopes are high for them sharing the screen again.

Not only that but none other than ‘Atomic Blonde’ and ‘Deadpool 2’ director David Leitch is on board to helm the spinoff. It is scheduled to start shooting this autumn.

Kirby will be playing the sister of Statham’s character, who also happens to be an MI-5 agent, in the film.

Veteran scribe of the ‘Fast & Furious’ series Chris Morgan has penned the script. Plot details are vague, but the central idea is that the film would see the often-at-odds duo team up. Johnson, Statham, and ‘Fast & Furious’ producer Neal Moritz will produce.

Kirby will next be seen on the big screen in ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout,’ which hits Irish cinemas on July 25th.

‘Hobbs and Shaw’ hits theatres on July 26th, 2019.