Vin Diesel took to Facebook this weekend, praising fans and confirming news we have only previously heard from Universal Studios’ big wigs — there will be a final Fast and Furious trilogy.
The big question now? Who Diesel and his producing partners will tap to direct. The star’s Facebook post indicates he has a few names in mind.
“My producing partner Neal would love for me to just sign off on a director, but this is too special a franchise, so these matters have to be very carefully handled,” Diesel wrote. “To be clear, NO ONE has been offered to helm Fast 8 yet … let alone seen a script. Universal has been so good to me and so trusting of the vision … they have been like family … I promised the studio I would deliver one last Trilogy to end the saga. I will announce the directors on my next post …”
Though Diesel did share that they have multiple directors in mind, there is one name fans can be sure it won’t be: James Wan, the Furious 7 director who has formally opted out of Furious 8 to direct The Conjuring 2. Rumor has it that Wan had a lot of trouble dealing with Diesel on the set of the previous installment, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
For a while, many fans thought that the late Paul Walker’s final film, Furious 7, would be the end of the road. The creative forces behind the franchise took a huge blow after the star’s death, who played lead ensemble player Brian O’Conner in the majority of the seven films, and passed away in a tragic car accident in late 2013 on a break from filming.
But movie studios love nothing more than a sure thing, and the Furious franchise has been all that and more. The latest film has grossed over $1.5 billion since being released in April, making it the fifth highest grossing movie of all time.
Furious 8 is set for release in spring 2017.
