14 DAY TRIAL // Universal has finally decided what to do with the “Fast and Furious” franchise after Paul Walker’s death on November 30, in a car accident that also ended the life of his friend and business partner Roger Rodas.
The 7th installment, which was halfway done at the time of Walker’s death, will be out in April 2015. It won’t be the last film in the series either, which means the studio had the very difficult task of deciding what to do with Walker’s character, which was one of the original leads.
The Hollywood Reporter claims to have it on very good authority (though nothing is official as of now) that Walker’s character Brian O’Conner won’t be killed off, as previously speculated, but “retired.”
This will allow fans to say their goodbye to the beloved actor because he will still be featured in the film, but also for the franchise to go on in a respectful manner.
“In the weeks after the tragedy, director James Wan, writer Chris Morgan and Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, Universal's lead executive on the Fast films, pored over the footage Wan had shot. The trio then devised a plan to tweak the existing script so that Walker would remain a part of the story but could be written out, allowing the franchise to continue without him,” THR says.
The news will most likely please fans, many of whom wished to see “Fast & Furious 7” because it was Walker’s final film and they believed it would have been a shame to have all that footage shelved. At the same time, it will please them to know that Universal won’t be “replacing” Walker with another actor, thus “brushing off” his tragic death.
Sorry if you were rooting for Justin Bieber to take over.