Paul Walker’s brothers want to bring back his Fast & Furious character

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

This year marks five years since Paul Walker tragically died in a car accident in November 2013, leaving his work on FURIOUS 7 incomplete at the time. The production crew was able to digitally insert his character wherever there were gaps thanks to VFX magic and the help of Walker’s brothers, and now those same brothers, Caleb and Cody, want to use the same techniques to bring back their brother's character, Brian O’Conner, for another round of vehicular action.

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The two were speaking to the Associated Press while promoting the new documentary I AM PAUL WALKER when they talked about how they would like to see his character brought back for future films using some of the advanced digital techniques – if even for a little cameo. 

“I just hope we get to — I don’t know — have a little cameo and bring Paul back to save the day and I get to help create that again,” Caleb Walker said. “That’s my dream and I hope we get to do that in one of the future movies.”

After Walker's death, the brothers were asked by the producers to come in and fill their brother’s shoes for the scenes he never got to film, including a new ending that saw him driving alongside Vin Diesel’s character, going off into the sunset to live a normal life with his family. Cody added that since then the series has lost something now that his brother’s character isn’t around.

“I think there could potentially be a way to do it. But it would take a lot of thought and it’d have to be tasteful. It would have to be tasteful. He was the real deal, the real car guy. And in his absence, I — you know — I think it’s lost its way in a big way.”

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Though they had a major hand in helping complete FURIOUS 7, they admitted they haven't seen the movie since the premiere back in 2015.

“It’s kind of creepy sometimes when you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s me.’ It doesn’t feel right,” Caleb said. “I think one day, when our kids are little older and we are able to share that experience with them and be like, ‘Hey look, this is your uncle Paul. He was the greatest guy in the world and here we are being able to portray him and finish up this movie for him.’ That’s when I think it will really hit that I think it was really worth it and special and all that. But in the meantime, it’s still a little conflicted.”

Bringing Walker's character back would be incredibly difficult and require a certain delicacy that I don't think the series possesses. These movies are all adrenaline-pumping action, and it would feel incredibly weird to see Walker (or rather some sort of digital rendering) leaping from car to car. Walker's absence certainly leaves a hole in the series, but instead of trying to fill it with some clever visual techniques maybe the solution should be hanging up the keys sooner rather than later. 

The next entry in the FAST & FURIOUS series will be the spinoff HOBBS AND SHAW with Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, which is set for 2019.