It seems like the “Fast and Furious” franchise is not coming to an end yet.
Following Paul Walker‘s death, it seemed highly unlikely for Universal Pictures to develop more films out of the money-making franchise. However, director James Wan (of “The Conjuring” fame) made it possible after retiring Walker’s character instead of killing him in “Furious 7“.
Vin Diesel, who played Dominic Toretto in the movie, recently made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel and talked about the possibility of having the 8th instalment of the franchise to be set in New York city.
Back in November 2013, the late Paul Walker told Collider in an interview that Universal Pictures supposedly wants 3 more instalments after “Furious 7″ and guaranteed that the studio will develop the 8th film.
Universal Pictures chairperson Donna Langley also told The Hollywood Reporter that the studio will continue the film series, even without the beloved star. She said:
Paul is, and always will be, an integral part of the story. But there are many other great characters, and it’s also an opportunity to introduce new characters. I think it’s still a growing franchise. We’ll see what happens with “Furious 7,” obviously, but our box office has grown over the past 3 or 4 films and internationally, in particular. So we think that there’s more to mine there. But we’re of course very mindful about fatigue.
During an interview with Empire in 2013, Dwayne Johnson also said that the studio was planning to develop a spin-off film starring his character Luke Hobbs. However, there’s no official announcement regarding the plan yet.
As for the 8th film, director James Wan simply stated in an interview with Variety that he is “open to anything at this point”. Vin Diesel told Kimmel that Kurt Russell, who joined the series cast in Furious 7 as a mysterious government agent, will apparently play a more significant role in the sequel.
He said:
Kurt Russell came in for this movie. But we really hired him because of a story that follows this that takes place in New York.
Other than the location itself, Diesel did not reveal further information regarding the sequel.
Regarding this matter, Russell appeared on Kimmel’s show a night later and said:
We created somebody that I think is a mystery man. You never know his name. You never know quite what world he’s in. And we don’t, and I think that’s what’s exciting about it.
He also seemed unsure about appearing in the sequel as he said, “If they do more, and if it goes on, we’ll try to come up with something to top this, but I’ll tell you, it’s going to be hard to do.”
So, what do you think? Would you want to see another film from the franchise? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
(Source: The Verge)