Paul Walker's Brothers Hint That 'Fast and Furious' Might Bring Back Brian O'Conner

Paul Walker's brothers say Vin Diesel has been talking with them about bringing back the late actor's Brian O'Conner.

September 16, 2016

Not Available Lead — Image via Complex Original

Today in seemingly not great ideas, Vin Diesel and the Fast and Furious franchise gods are apparently interested in bringing back the late Paul Walker's character in future films. In fact, Walker's own family confirmed Friday to Entertainment Tonight that discussions about bringing Brian O'Conner back have already taken place.

"I had a phone call with Vin for about an hour and we really discussed this a while back," Caleb Walker, who along with his brother Cody helps run the annual Game4Paul fundraiser, said. "He wanted [our] blessing." Diesel, Caleb added, specifically asked "if and when" they thought it might be "acceptable to maybe bring Paul's character back… to really kind of let his fans know he's still out there."

Cody insisted Universal and Diesel want to "make sure to be respectful" of Paul's image, as well as the rest of his family. Speaking on Walker's 18-year-old daughter, Meadow, Cody said she's doing much better these days. "She was the most important thing in the world to him," Cody toldET. "So we're very protective of her."

Joe Letteri, VFX supervisor on Furious 7, spoke at length with the Hollywood Reporter in December about the behind-the-scenes mastery required to finish the film following Walker's death. "It was too important to complete the story in respect to Paul's memory [and] to make sure that when you watched it, you didn't think about any of the work that we did," Letteri said, praising Caleb and Cody's help. "If you were a fan, you were watching Paul's performance and saying goodbye."

The next entry in the Fast and Furious franchise, F. Gary Gray's Fast 8, hits theaters April 14, 2017.