Vin Diesel has long stated his hope to somehow bring back the character of Brian O’Conner in Fast Forever, but if it does happen it will be without the assistance of late actor Paul Walker’s brothers this time around.
After Paul Walker died in a car accident in 2013 while Furious 7 was in production, his brothers Cody and Caleb Walker (along with actor John Brotherton) were used as doubles during the remainder of the shoot. Visual effects were then used to map Paul’s likeness over the stand-ins.
Chatting with Entertainment Weekly, Cody Walker said neither he nor Caleb will do that again for what’s been touted as the final film in the Fast and Furious franchise. Instead, Walker suggested artificial intelligence could be used this time to bring Brian back.
“My stance is, it’s what Meadow [Paul’s daughter] wants to see done; it’s her father,” Cody said. (Meadow Walker cameoed in Fast X and Vin Diesel even walked her down the aisle at her wedding.)
“I would not be interested in doing that again. I love the way his character exited the franchise. They didn’t kill him off, they didn’t do something cheesy like that. It’s beautiful, [Brian] is off raising his kids,” Cody said.
“But if they want to do that, if Meadow would like to see that, they don’t need me or Caleb. AI was not a thing back in 2014, so they could do that. There’s years of footage that was never used from these other Fast films. They’re the best in the business, they can figure that out.”
The Walker brothers previously said back in 2018 that they were hopeful there was a way the series could bring back Paul’s character even though earlier reports suggested the franchise would simply retire the character of Brian O’Conner. But as fans of the franchise know, that isn’t quite what ended up happening.
Fast 9 director Justin Lin confirmed that Brian O’Conner is still alive in the Fast universe. At the end of Furious 7, Brian and his girlfriend Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) flee the outlaw life in order to raise their children in safety. And while the specter of Walker looms over the subsequent Fast & Furious films, and Brian and Mia have been mentioned, the series avoided directly bringing Brian back … until the very last scene of Fast 9.
In Fast 9, Mia rejoins big brother Dom (Diesel) and the crew to track down and stop their renegade agent brother, Jakob (John Cena). Mia tells Dom that Brian is looking after his namesake, Dom’s toddler son Brian, and their own kids while she’s on this mission. In the end, the crew convenes for a family dinner at Dom’s home in L.A. There’s an empty chair with Mia telling Dom that its occupant is on their way but running late. That’s when the scene cuts to a familiar blue car, a Nissan Skyline driven by Brian in past movies, pulling into the driveway before cutting to black. While we never see the driver, the implication is clear: Brian O’Conner is back with his family.
Diesel has made it clear that he feels it’s important for the story and fans to bring back Brian O’Conner one last time for the saga’s finale, which he said will see the franchise return to its street racing roots. “I couldn’t imagine this saga ending without truly saying goodbye to Brian O’Conner,” Diesel told Total Film in 2023.
In January, Diesel announced the release date and title for the sequel to Fast X in an Instagram post using a photo of his and Walker’s characters in the original 2001 film: “No one said the road would be easy… but it’s ours. One that has defined us and become our legacy… And a legacy… lasts Forever. March 17th 2028! FAST FOREVER.”
Fast Forever will be directed by Louis Leterrier, who also directed Fast X, which opened to poor reviews and proved to be the lowest-grossing entry in the franchise.
Fast X also shocked fans by bringing back Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Gal Gadot’s Gisele Yashar in cameos that clearly set them up as returning for the next and final film. Time will tell if that indeed happens.
