It's been a while since John Cena has taken time off from his WWE career and switched to acting. The 46-year-old professional wrestler, actor and rapper has been part of some of the biggest cinematic universes including The Suicide Squad and Fast & Furious. But there is an interesting story behind his casting as Jakob Toretto, the younger brother of Vin Diesel's character, Dom Toretto in F9 and Fast X. Cena and the production studio had no idea that he is on board along with the rest of the regular cast members for F9 and Diesel apparently cast him without any prior information.

Cena discussed how he met Diesel for the character of Jakob Toretto in an interview for Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast. The actor admitted that he was initially unaware of the meeting and felt overwhelmed upon chatting with the 55-year-old action star. “I don’t know what I did to get a meeting…I got a notification that Vin wanted to get together and I said sure and it wasn’t about the movie, it was meeting Vin Diesel because those things don’t happen a lot to me. So I met him at the Toretto dojo where he trains, has the black charger there…It was surreal,” he revealed.

Diesel didn't bring up the movie at all and just started an Instagram Live instead to declare that Cena had joined the franchise. The Peacemaker actor added, "We meet, we talk about life, philosophy, nothing about the movie. It’s almost like we are sizing each other up but I have no reason to size him up…So I am hoping I don’t get punched and then he just goes live on Instagram."

Cena also clarified that he thought Diesel was "inviting him to the movies" since he was not formally given the job to star in F9 by Universal Studios yet. "I am in the movie apparently because I have Vin Diesel’s blessing," Cena joked. Interviewer Horowitz was surprised to hear Cena's casting story and claimed that "it was the best casting story he had ever heard." Cena also revealed that he initially had no idea who he was going to play either.

After a second meeting with Diesel, he was told that his position is secured in the blockbuster franchise as Jakob Toretto. “We really connected and through the video, he announced to the world that I will be in the franchise. And then later I had another meeting with him, where he said, ‘You’re not just in, you’re a Toretto.’ Me being a fan of the franchise, it meant you are not just in, you’re a champion, you get to be immediately on the winning team,” Cena concluded. As the world of Fast & Furious continues to expand, we can see the addition of some familiar faces in the movie franchise and Cena's passion for the role clearly shines through every time he speaks about it. Cena can be seen in Fast X which was released worldwide on May 19, 2023, and is currently completing a successful second week in theaters.