He reappeared in F9, his first appearance set after the events of Tokyo Drift, in which his death is retconned, and he is now raising an adoptive daughter, Elle, later partnering with Deckard Shaw in Fast X. Han is considered a breakout character, with the timeline of the Fast & Furious series altered on multiple occasions to explain his presence despite his death (prior to it being retconned), with Kang receiving significant praise for his performance as the character.
When Lin was recruited to direct The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, he pitched the idea of adding an Asian character to be the "cool guy" specifically with Han Lue in mind.
Kang was only supposed to appear in a one-off but was brought back in the subsequent prequel films due to positive responses from audiences.
At some point, he acquired a 2001 Nissan Silvia S15 Spec-S and rebuilt and restored it from the ground up, the car later being referred to by Twinkie as the Mona Lisa of the Drifting world.
Han also affiliates himself with Takashi, the nephew of Kamata, a Yakuza boss, securing profits from various business ventures.
Han makes a point to tell Sean that he is in his debt and would be his personal “errand boy” on account of the car that he owes him.
Sometime after Han's death, Sean Boswell meets Dominic Toretto after he requests an audience with him at the parking garage.
In Los Bandoleros, Han visited Mexico (off-screen), where he met Dominic "Dom" Toretto and established a friendship.
He along with Letty Ortiz, Toretto, Tego Leo, Rico Santos, and Cara (Han's then-girlfriend), are hijacking a fuel tanker in the Dominican Republic.
After the hijacking is done, Toretto learns from Han that the authorities are investigating their previous locations and heists, leading to the disbanding of the crew.
When Brian and Dom are chased by corrupt cops under Hernan Reyes payroll, he and Roman come to their aid by knocking out the police cars.
When Han and Gisele arrive in London, they're given the details of their situation with Owen Shaw and Letty Ortiz by Luke Hobbs.
During their first encounter with Shaw's team, Han, Brian and Gisele are attacked by the sniper Adolfson, who fires on their cars once they reach Interpol.
While on a mission that would lead them to Tokyo, Letty and Mia discover that Han is alive, having used Deckard Shaw's attack on him to fake his death with the help of Mr. Nobody.
While she hid from the assassins, Han intervened and killed them to save her, deciding to take Elle in and protect her from the man who sent them, an aristocrat named Otto.
Although Otto and Dom's brother Jakob later kidnap Elle, Han helps the team rescue her and stop the activation of Aries.
He is later seen among the several members at the partially re-built Toretto house in L.A., reuniting with his Tokyo crew; Sean, Twinkie and Earl, who are overjoyed to see him alive.
He joins the Toretto and Tokyo crew at the table for a dinner meal, alongside Elle, waiting for Brian O'Conner to arrive.
The film's end credit scene shows Deckard Shaw is interrogating a Russian criminal before answering the door to shockingly find Han, who has come to confront the man who tried to kill him.
Han returns to help the Agency with a mission in Rome along with Dominic, Letty, Tej, Roman, and Ramsey.
In Portugal, Han, Roman, Tej and Ramsey board a plane to rescue Dom and his son at the dam from Dante and Aimes, who is revealed to be a double agent working with Dante shoots with a rocket launcher causing the plane to crash, leaving Han's fate alongside the fates of Roman, Tej and Ramsey unknown.
According to director Justin Lin, this is an Easter egg reference to the character's previous appearance in Better Luck Tomorrow.