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Auto Blog
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Auto Blog
Fast and Furious' Brian O'Conner to return in final film, Vin Diesel says
A Return To Form For Franchise's Final Film, Diesel Said Brain O'Conner, the cop-turned-outlaw played by the late Paul Walker, will return for the final Fast and Furious movie, franchise star Vin Diesel said Saturday at the Fuel Fast event in Los Angeles. In a short speech that's made the rounds on social media, Diesel said that, when asked by Universal Studios to lock in a release date of April 20, 2027, for the Fast and Furious finale, he responded with three conditions. One was a return to Los Angeles, the second was a return to the street racing that was the focus of the first film. 0:07 / 0:09 2026 Audi A6 Avant debuts to fight BMW 5 Series Touring Watch More 'The third thing was reuniting Dom and Brian O'Conner,' Diesel said, referring to his own character Dominic Toretto. 'That is what you are going to get in the finale.' Digital Effects And A Sibling Stand-In Could Make It Happen Walker starred opposite Diesel in the first six Fast and Furious movies before he was killed in a car crash on November 30, 2013. Filming of Furious 7 was already underway at that time, so things were changed to write O'Conner out of the franchise. That included a final scene in which Walker's brother Cody stepped in as O'Conner, with digital effects to make the switch less obvious. Cody Walker stood next to Diesel during the announcement, along with Tyrese Gibson, who plays Roman Pearce in the franchise. Diesel didn't elaborate on how the production team would accomplish his wish list, but digital effects to change an actor's appearance, including superimposing the likenesses of dead actors onto living ones, has only become more common since the release of Furious 7. So it's not difficult to imagine Brian O'Conner making his return this way. Photo by Tony Gough/Newspix/Getty Images A Long Road The upcoming movie will be the 11th in the main Fast and Furious storyline, not including the 2019 spinoff Hobbs & Shaw. Expected to be Called Fast X Part Two (as it picks up on the storyline from 2023's Fast X) its scheduled release date will be 26 years after the 2001 release of The Fast and the Furious. That's an impressive record for any movie franchise, and explains the eagerness to bring back Brian O'Conner for one last ride. About the Author Stephen Edelstein View Profile
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Back from the dead: can the new Fast and Furious movie really ‘reunite' Vin Diesel and Paul Walker?
If you're a fan of the Fast and Furious franchise – and you're only human, so of course you are – then you'll know that Fast X ended on one of the most operatically daft cliffhangers of all time. In short, Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson are apparently dead, having been shot out of the sky by a double agent. Vin Diesel seems certain to die, having ended the film at the bottom of a dam that Jason Momoa just exploded. And Gal Gadot is back. And the Rock is back. All these threads need to be resolved urgently. And yet, Fast X was a box-office disappointment. The fourth most expensive film ever made, Fast X was the fifth highest-grossing film of 2023 and still managed to lose $20m. And suddenly the prospects of a sequel looked dimmer and dimmer. Or at least they did, until Vin Diesel stumbled across a foolproof plan to revive the franchise forever: human resurrection. This weekend, Diesel appeared at FuelFest, a car enthusiast event in California. During his speech, Diesel gave an insight into how Fast and Furious 11 could make people excited about the series again. 'The studio said to me, 'Vin, can we please have the finale of Fast and Furious [in] April 2027?' I said, 'Under three conditions.' First is to bring the franchise back to LA! The second thing was to return to the car culture, to the street racing! The third thing was reuniting Dom and Brian O'Conner.' Now, within the context of Fast X, none of these things make sense. You cannot make a film where Rome gets nuked and Spain is devastated by a 30bn-gallon dam collapse, and then pretend like none of it happened so you can make a scaled-back little car-racing film in LA. Unless Fast 11 starts with Dominic Toretto waking up in a cold sweat and growling 'Woah, I thought I was involved in one of the most egregiously ugly CGI blowouts in all of movie history, but it was just a crazy dream!' then the series cannot simply reset itself like this. More worrying, though, is the promise to reunite Toretto and Brian O'Conner. This is for the simple reason that O'Conner was played by Paul Walker, and Paul Walker died 12 years ago. Needless to say, that didn't stop them before. When Walker died, he was in the middle of making Furious 7, and production brought in his brothers to act as body doubles before VFX house Weta grafted a digital copy of Walker's face on top of it. The results were actually fairly convincing, but this is arguably because the job was easier. The bulk of Walker's performance had already been committed to tape, so they could carefully weave in additional shots without drawing too much attention. But bringing the character back for an entirely new performance is something else entirely. They would have to create a digital Walker from scratch, and then convincingly voice him. You don't need to be told that it's tough to do it well. The Star Wars series has tried it repeatedly, with everyone from Peter Cushing to Carrie Fisher, and there is always something creepily plastic about the execution. Not even turning Harold Ramis into a ghost for Ghostbusters: Afterlife could mask how off-putting he looked. And the orgy of digitally created multiverse cameos that ended The Flash was the ugliest thing to be put on screen since, well, Vin Diesel drove down the side of a dam. Surely the Fast and Furious franchise doesn't need to debase itself by taking a beloved co-star and yanking him around like a puppet. You have to imagine that Diesel's intention is to cut back on the full-tilt bombast and return to something with real emotional depth, but in reality that means he'll have to spend a lot of his time emoting at a tennis ball, which doesn't exactly scream nuance. Plus, as much as I hate to say it, people don't go and see Fast and Furious films for emotional complexity. They go because they want to see stuff smash into other stuff, ideally when some of it is on fire. If Fast 11 wants to pay tribute to Walker, then doing it in the credits might be the best way to go. After all, it's hard to pay tribute to a colleague when there's an exploding dam to outrun.
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Back from the dead: can the new Fast and Furious movie really ‘reunite' Vin Diesel and Paul Walker?
If you're a fan of the Fast and Furious franchise – and you're only human, so of course you are – then you'll know that Fast X ended on one of the most operatically daft cliffhangers of all time. In short, Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson are apparently dead, having been shot out of the sky by a double agent. Vin Diesel seems certain to die, having ended the film at the bottom of a dam that Jason Momoa just exploded. And Gal Gadot is back. And the Rock is back. All these threads need to be resolved urgently. And yet, Fast X was a box-office disappointment. The fourth most expensive film ever made, Fast X was the fifth highest-grossing film of 2023 and still managed to lose $20m. And suddenly the prospects of a sequel looked dimmer and dimmer. Or at least they did, until Vin Diesel stumbled across a foolproof plan to revive the franchise forever: human resurrection. This weekend, Diesel appeared at FuelFest, a car enthusiast event in California. During his speech, Diesel gave an insight into how Fast and Furious 11 could make people excited about the series again. 'The studio said to me, 'Vin, can we please have the finale of Fast and Furious [in] April 2027?' I said, 'Under three conditions.' First is to bring the franchise back to LA! The second thing was to return to the car culture, to the street racing! The third thing was reuniting Dom and Brian O'Conner.' Now, within the context of Fast X, none of these things make sense. You cannot make a film where Rome gets nuked and Spain is devastated by a 30bn-gallon dam collapse, and then pretend like none of it happened so you can make a scaled-back little car-racing film in LA. Unless Fast 11 starts with Dominic Toretto waking up in a cold sweat and growling 'Woah, I thought I was involved in one of the most egregiously ugly CGI blowouts in all of movie history, but it was just a crazy dream!' then the series cannot simply reset itself like this. More worrying, though, is the promise to reunite Toretto and Brian O'Conner. This is for the simple reason that O'Conner was played by Paul Walker, and Paul Walker died 12 years ago. Needless to say, that didn't stop them before. When Walker died, he was in the middle of making Furious 7, and production brought in his brothers to act as body doubles before VFX house Weta grafted a digital copy of Walker's face on top of it. The results were actually fairly convincing, but this is arguably because the job was easier. The bulk of Walker's performance had already been committed to tape, so they could carefully weave in additional shots without drawing too much attention. But bringing the character back for an entirely new performance is something else entirely. They would have to create a digital Walker from scratch, and then convincingly voice him. You don't need to be told that it's tough to do it well. The Star Wars series has tried it repeatedly, with everyone from Peter Cushing to Carrie Fisher, and there is always something creepily plastic about the execution. Not even turning Harold Ramis into a ghost for Ghostbusters: Afterlife could mask how off-putting he looked. And the orgy of digitally created multiverse cameos that ended The Flash was the ugliest thing to be put on screen since, well, Vin Diesel drove down the side of a dam. Surely the Fast and Furious franchise doesn't need to debase itself by taking a beloved co-star and yanking him around like a puppet. You have to imagine that Diesel's intention is to cut back on the full-tilt bombast and return to something with real emotional depth, but in reality that means he'll have to spend a lot of his time emoting at a tennis ball, which doesn't exactly scream nuance. Plus, as much as I hate to say it, people don't go and see Fast and Furious films for emotional complexity. They go because they want to see stuff smash into other stuff, ideally when some of it is on fire. If Fast 11 wants to pay tribute to Walker, then doing it in the credits might be the best way to go. After all, it's hard to pay tribute to a colleague when there's an exploding dam to outrun.
Khaleej Times
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Vin Diesel promises street racing and return of Paul Walker's character for 'Fast and Furious 11'
Actor Vin Diesel has officially confirmed that the final installment of the Fast & Furious franchise, tentatively titled Fast 11, is set to hit theatres in April 2027. Appearing at Fuel Fest, a car culture and motorsports event in Pomona, California, Diesel made a surprise appearance alongside franchise stars Tyrese Gibson and Cody Walker (brother of the late Paul Walker). According to Variety, Diesel, addressing an electrified crowd, dropped major hints about the future—and legacy—of the popular series that began in 2001. 'The studio said to me, 'Vin, can we please have the finale of 'Fast and Furious' [in] April 2027?'' Diesel shared. 'I said, 'Under three conditions.'' Those conditions? A return to the roots that made Fast a global phenomenon. 'First, is to bring the franchise back to Los Angeles. The second thing was to return to the car culture, to the street racing. The third thing was reuniting Dom and Brian O'Conner,' Diesel said. Diesel's final condition—the reunion of Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Conner—is as tantalising as it is mysterious. Paul Walker, who played Brian, tragically died in a car accident in 2013 at the age of 40, midway through filming Furious 7. The filmmakers used CGI and his brothers as body doubles to complete the film, sending off Brian with an emotional, symbolic farewell. Whether Fast 11 will feature a fully digital version of Brian, previously unseen footage, or a brief tribute-style appearance remains unclear. However, Diesel's comment seems to confirm that Brian's presence—one way or another—will play a role in the franchise's swan song. Released in May 2023, Fast X brought in over $700 million globally, though it faced criticism for its bloated $340 million budget. Marketed as the first of a two-part saga, it ended on a cliffhanger with Jason Momoa's flamboyant villain Dante Reyes threatening Toretto and his crew. With such a large time gap between Fast X and Fast 11, it remains to be seen whether the upcoming film will continue from where Fast X left off or take a more standalone approach focused on legacy and nostalgia. Fans of the franchise's earlier films will no doubt be thrilled at the promise of returning to L.A. and the underground street racing roots that once defined The Fast and the Furious. Over the years, the franchise morphed into globe-trotting spy thrillers with flying cars and gravity-defying stunts. A shift back to asphalt and attitude may be just what fans—and the series—need.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Fast X: Part 2 Release Date & Brian's Return Get Huge Updates From Vin Diesel
Fast & Furious franchise star and producer Vin Diesel recently teased the release date window of Fast X: Part 2 and the return of Brian O'Conner, previously portrayed by the late Paul Walker. As of 2025, 10 movies have come out in the main branch of the franchise. It was previously reported that the upcoming 11th film would also be the last chapter of the Diesel-led movie series. However, the franchise will potentially continue through spin-offs. Diesel made an appearance at the FuelFest, an automobile festival organized by Paul Walker's brother Cody and Tyrese Gibson, and revealed key details about Fast X: Part 2, the finale of the Fast & Furious movie series. He announced that the movie will debut in April 2027. 'As you all know, we've been working very hard to bring you the finale,' Diesel began while addressing the crowd at Fuel Fest. 'Our franchise is only made possible because of the love that you all have for this culture called the car culture.' He disclosed that he had a meeting with Universal, the production company behind the franchise, a day ago, and the studio asked him if they could have the release date for the Fast 11 movie in April 2027. The MCU actor revealed that, in response, he listed three conditions that the fans have been asking for. Diesel said the first condition was to bring the franchise back to Los Angeles, California, which served as the setting of the first movie, 2001's The Fast and the Furious. The second thing, according to the actor, was returning the narrative to the car culture, the street racing. While the earlier movies in the franchise heavily focused on cars and the culture around them, later entries gradually shifted away from that. The third condition, Diesel revealed, was 'reuniting Dom (Diesel) and Brian O'Conner.' He added, 'That is what you gonna get in the finale,' indicating that Universal has agreed to his conditions. Paul Walker last portrayed Brian in 2015's Furious 7. He died in a tragic vehicular accident two years earlier. Walker's brothers, Cody and Caleb, and John Brotherton served as stand-ins for him for certain scenes in Furious 7. The 2023 release Fast X had archival footage featuring Walker's character. At the time of this article's composition, it's unclear how and in what capacity Brian will appear in Fast X: Part 2.
