This summer's Furious 7 was a major hit for Universal Studios, and has made The Fast and Furious one of the biggest franchises with Universal's Jurassic films.  Once the seventh film was proven to be such a huge hit, it was quickly decided that a Furious 8 would be green-lit.  This is what is known about Fast and Furious 8 Release Date and Cast News, like how it could be part of a trilogy with Paul Walker's  brother, Cody Walker. 

According to the Latinos Post, there is a plan for the next installments of the Fast and Furious films.  In fact, there was always a long-range plan as the franchise retooled from a story about street racing to tales of international espionage. 

The issue was the death of Paul Walker that occurred before filming was complete on Furious 7.  Neal Moritz, a producer tied in with the Fast and the Furious franchise, has stated that "his character has...moved on", and the next installment, Furious 8, is going to be part of a trilogy. 

In fact, Furious 8 still does not have a director because the team really wants to properly develop the screenplay.  This is a pretty smart move as writing a trilogy is very different than writing a singular movie.  That is, a story that lasts for three movies has to have perfect spots for ending each chapter, and you need to have a plan for the storyline to do that. 

There isn't much known about the story of Furious 8 or the rest of the trilogy but much speculation is it could feature Mr. Nobody, a government agent introduced in the last movie, played by veteran actor Kurt Russell.  So far the imdb page for Furious 8 has only four people confirmed for the cast that include Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, as well as the rumor that Cody Walker, the brother of the late Paul Walker, playing Jack O'Conner. 

Whatever the case, Fast and Furious 8 will be the first film without Paul Walker from the beginning, and Vin Diesel, in paying tribute to his best friend, held back tears in the formal announcement as he said: "I swear to you and my brother upstairs, we are going to make the best movie you've ever seen".  You can rest assured that Diesel will put his heart in this story, which he is developing with producer Neil Moritz and writer Chris Morgan. 

According to Comic Book dot Com, Vin Diesel went on Instagram and posted a hint of what the plot of the Fast and the Furious 8 will be.  Actually, it was more of a visual hint with a picture of New York that you can see in the image.  This could be something fan made or a legitimate leak, but apparently Diesel had teased on Jimmy Kimmel Live that the eighth installment of the franchise would take place there. 

The Fast and the Furious 8, Furious 8, or whatever it will eventually be called, will be released on April 14, 2017. If it is the beginning of a trilogy, the studio would be smart and space Furious 9 and Furious 10 one year later.