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, including the potential casing of Cody Walker, Paul Walker's brother, as well as the film's current lack of director.
According to Classical Lite, both Universal and Vin Diesel have been thinking about adding a new role just for Cody, as Paul Walker's character of Brian O'Conner has been sent into a semi-retirement for the series. Cody Walker was used as a stand-in for Paul Walker's character during Fast and Furious 7, as the Paul Walker sadly passed away in a fiery car crash in 2013.
Cody has expressed interest in being added on as a cast member, but it is not clear what role he would take. Would it be appropriate if he was playing Brian O'Conner's brother, or some kind of relation? It might be possible that he could take Paul Walker's place as Brian O'Conner, but there might be a lot of people who would find that very inappropriate.
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.
Other than Walker's casting and the plan for not one but three new movies, the Fast and Furious 8 has apparently been laden with new problems as Yahoo Movies states that Universal is having problems with finding a director for the eighth installment of the now huge franchise. Originally, film studio chair Donna Langley was eager to re-enlist Furious 7 director James Wan, who managed to turn Furious 7 into a runaway box office success as one of the top films of all time.
Unfortunately, Wan informed Universal that he was going to direct a sequel to The Conjuring. Universal attempted to contact Justin Lin, who directed the third through the sixth of the series, but he is working on the next Star Trek film.
Wan felt that working on Furious 7 compromised Wan's health. He also states that working with producer Vin Diesel was often difficult as Diesel would question small details on elaborate action sequences, holding up production. A spokesperson for Diesel states any suggestion that Diesel was tough to work with was "complete nonsense", and Wan's rep also denies any on-set friction between the two of them.
So it looks like The Fast and the Furious 8, Furious 8, or whatever it will eventually be called is still looking for direction. It should hurry as the studio announced that it 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.
