It’s been six years since Paul Walker died, and the Fast and Furious cast hasn’t forgotten. In fact, it sounds like his spirit was felt very strongly during filming for Fast and Furious 9 and helped carry the cast through the 2020 movie. Not to be weird with a Star Wars analogy, but he’s like their own Force Ghost. That’s kinda cool, right?
Paul Walker died November 30, 2013 as a passenger in a car crash. He was filming Furious 7 as Brian O’Conner at the time, and his brothers helped finish his role as stand-ins.
Now the Fast and Furious cast is fresh off the franchise’s longest shoot ever for Fast and Furious 9. Tyrese Gibson, who plays Roman Pearce in the Fast films, shared two posts on the anniversary of Paul Walker’s death. In the first, he recalled how he got the horrible news about Walker’s death. He later noted that the cast and crew thought about Walker every day when making Fast 9, and when days were tough, he was the one to pull them through:
What a beautiful sentiment. Tyrese later shared a video with Paul Walker talking about how he loves Tyrese like a brother, even though “he drives me fucking insane sometimes. We give each other a hard time, but there’s always love between us.”
Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto) and Paul Walker, aka Pablo, were like brothers on-screen and off when it comes to the Fast and Furious franchise. Diesel honored the 6th anniversary of Paul Walker’s death with a sweet image and one simple word:
Paul Walker’s daughter Meadow responded with hearts. Walker’s brother Cody — who was spotted with Vin Diesel on the Fast and Furious 9 set — added “Always in our hearts. We miss you Pablo.” Fast and Furious 9 star Nathalie Emmanuel (Ramsey) also added heart emojis.
Jordana Brewster still plays Mia Toretto, who has two kids with Paul Walker’s Brian in the Fast and Furious movies. The Fast films didn’t kill off Brian after Paul’s death, and since Mia is back in a big way in Fast 9, fans are wondering if the film will find a way to show Brian again. As we wait to see if the rumors on that are true, Brewster shared her own remembrance of Paul Walker on November 30:
It’s clear Paul Walker’s spirit was very strong with the cast while they made Fast and Furious 9. But will the character of Brian return? We’ll have to see how that works out when the movie opens on May 22, 2020. Here’s everything we know so far about Fast and Furious 9. Keep up with everything heading to the big screen next year with our 2020 movie release date schedule.