‘Fate Of The Furious’ Writer Reveals Paul Walker’s Character Will Always Be Alive In Franchise

Paul Walker’s Brian O’Conner is a key character in the “Fast and Furious” franchise along with Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto. The “Into the Blue” star’s untimely death made such a huge impact on the franchise that the creators and cast struggled with the decision of whether to make another film or not. But one thing is for certain: the team never wanted him out of the series.

According to “Fate of the Furious” writer Chris Morgan, in the original “Fate and Furious” script, Walker’s character, who was married to Mia (Jordan Brewster), would experience a mid-life crisis. He had his own family to look after and a kid to take care of, but he would miss the action of his younger days so he would find himself rethinking his retirement. However, “Fast and Furious 7” ended with Walker leaving the team to be a fulltime dad, and this would not have happened had the actor not died in a car crash.

“I don’t think we would have had him step out of the franchise,” Morgan told Variety. “When he died, we looked at it, and thought maybe [emphasizing] this is the best way to give him a graceful exit, so he’s always alive in this universe.”

READ: Vin Diesel and Charlize Theron attend the premiere of “The Fate and the Furious” in Berlin

Morgan added that everyone refused to continue filming “Furious 7” after Walker’s death. However, they realized that Walker wouldn’t want the movie to be shelved, so Morgan wrote a different ending and presented it to Diesel. The team agreed to make it work as a tribute to Walker.

“Fate of the Furious” is the first film in the franchise without Walker. However, Diesel is still not over the loss of his best pal because he made another tribute to him in the installment. In “Fast 8,” Dom found out he had a son with his ex, Elena (Elsa Pataky), and named the boy after Brian, The Sun reported.

But it was not just in the movie that Diesel expressed his love for his late co-star. Aside from working with Walker in “Fast and Furious” franchise for several years, he had always been like a brother to Diesel. The actor even named his daughter, Pauline, after Walker. “I named her Pauline,” Diesel previously told Today. “There’s no other person that I was thinking about as I was cutting this umbilical cord. I just ... knew he was there.”

What do you think of Diesel and the team’s effort to keep Walker’s character alive in the “Fast and Furious” franchise? Drop a comment below.