Dwayne Johnson praises Charlize Theron in Fast 8 welcome

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has given Charlize Theron a warm welcome to the Fast & Furious family.

The Mad Max: Fury Road star is revving up to portray the villain in the next street racing sequel, Fast 8, after sealing the deal last week (ends08Apr16), and on Wednesday (13Apr16), Dwayne took to Instagram.com to share a photo of himself and his girlfriend Lauren Hashian posing beside Charlize on a private runway, and saluted her action credentials.

"Want to officially welcome my good bud and all around bad a** Charlize Theron to FAST & FURIOUS 8," he captioned the image.

"When MTV asked her how she felt about coming in and playing the villain, her response was classic and the reason why I love that woman... she said, 'I'm coming to mess that s**t up!'"

Charlize is equally excited to join Dwayne and his co-stars, Vin Diesel, Michelle Williams, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, and Jason Statham, for the new project, but the actress has warned fans not to expect her to become a "speed demon" onscreen.

"I feel like that gang has got the driving down," she recently laughed to E! News. "Like, they have a really good thing going. I don't know if I need to step in in that department.

"I might have to step in a different department... I just want to gently ease fans into not expecting too much from me behind the wheel."

Charlize won't be the only new face joining the gang onscreen - Scott Eastwood was announced as the latest Fast 8 cast member on Monday (11Apr16). Clint Eastwood's actor son will play a trainee working under Kurt Russell's character Mr. Nobody in the highly-anticipated Furious 7 follow-up.

Charlize's The Italian Job remake director F. Gary Gray is on board to take charge of the project, which is set for release next April (17).