Vin Diesel is making big promises for “Fast & Furious 11.”
The actor, 57, surprised fans at FuelFest in Pomona, Calif., on Saturday and made a huge announcement about the franchise’s upcoming final film, including the possible return of Paul Walker’s character.
“Yesterday I was with Universal Studios. The studio said to me, ‘Vin, can we please have the finale of ‘Fast & Furious’ [in] April 2027,’” Diesel told the cheering crowd. “I said, ‘Under three conditions.’”
He explained, “The first is to bring the franchise back to L.A.! The second thing was to return to the car culture, to the street racing.”
“The third thing,” Diesel said, “was reuniting Dom and Brian O’Conner. That is what you’re going to get in the finale.”
Walker played Brian O’Conner in six “Fast & Furious” movies before he died in a car crash in Nov. 2013 at age 40.
In 2015’s “Fast & Furious 7,” producers used CGI, doubles and Walker’s brothers, Caleb and Cody, as stand-ins to give the late actor’s character a proper sendoff.
VFX supervisor Joe Letteri told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015 how they added dialogue in Brian’s appearance in the final scene.
“Most of the CG shots had some kind of dialogue,” Letteri said. “The sound editors had to craft the vocal performance out of [existing] dialog from Paul, and we had to animate to that.”
Years after Walker’s death, his daughter Meadow, 26, made a cameo in 2023’s “Fast X” as a flight attendant. Walker also appeared in the film via archival footage from “Fast & Furious 5.”
Diesel is set to return for the follow-up to the tenth “Fast and Furious” movie, which also starred Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, John Cena, Jordana Brewster, Brie Larson, Jason Statham, Helen Mirren and Rita Moreno.
The film, which was directed by Louis Leterrier, made over $700 million at the worldwide box office.
Leterrier, who is returning to direct “Fast & Furious 11,” teased the upcoming project in a 2023 interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“You’re going to cry. Part 2 is going to be a sad one,” the director said. “There are some tears in your future, let me tell you.”
Leterrier further teased, “I love twists. And if you like twists, you’re going to love the next one — twists on twists on twists.”
“Fast & Furious 11” does not have an official release date.
