Vin Diesel's Bizarre Fast & Furious Finale Conditions Would Ruin The Franchise
Vin Diesel has a tendency to just say things, especially when it comes to the "Fast and Furious" franchise. As /Film's Ben Pearson once put it, Diesel is "a guy who seems to believe in the power of speaking ideas out loud in order for them to ultimately become a reality." There was the time he hinted there would be an all-female "Fast & Furious" movie, or that time he claimed "Fast X" was the start of a brand new trilogy, which seems painfully optimistic given that the movie was a financial disappointment.
Now, Diesel is back to saying things about this franchise again. The actor made an appearance during Fuel Fest, a car enthusiast event in California (per Variety), and seemingly promised the release of the next film (which the actor called "the finale of 'Fast and Furious'") will happen in April 2027. What's more, Diesel told the enthusiastic crowd about the three "conditions" he had for Universal in order for him to meet that release date. "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!" he shouted to the enthusiastic crowd.
As for the third thing, Diesel teased an unexpected appearance. "The third thing was reuniting Dom and Brian O'Conner."
Brian O'Conner, of course, was the character first introduced in the very first film, "The Fast and the Furious," back in 2001. Played by Paul Walker, Brian was the original main character of the franchise for the first two chapters of the saga before shifting focus to Diesel's Dominic Toretto from the fourth film onward. The character was retired in 2015's "Furious 7" after Paul Walker's tragic death with a rather beautiful send-off that remains the emotional high point of the entire franchise.
"Fast X" already had big issues, and one of the biggest was the problematic way the movie tried to pay tribute to Walker's character, keeping him alive and as part of the conversation but never actually showing him. The in-world implication is that Brian is suddenly actively ignoring all the danger his family is in, and given how big the theme of family is in this franchise, Brian's role is actively causing problems.
But Diesel's alternative is even worse.
There are more important things to consider before ruining Brian O'Conner
Let's start with logistics. "Fast X" introduced too many new plotlines and characters that need to pay off in the next film before it can even begin to bring back new characters like Walker. There's the matter of Dom being stuck at the bottom of a burning dam, but also Jason Momoa's Dante and Alan Ritchson's Aimes being out there as a threat, plus the surprise resurrection of Gal Gadot's Gisele, the death of Dom's brother Jakob, and oh yes, the return of Dwayne Johnson's Hobbs. How could "Fast and Furious 11" even attempt to cram Brian's return in there?
I've written before about how the franchise has backed itself into a corner when it comes to Brian, because if you kill the character now, it will be a disservice to Walker, but keeping him alive and off-screen retroactively ruins the character. To fully bring Brian back on screen would require either a proper recast, like bringing in one of Walker's brothers, which is not anywhere near a perfect solution, or using a CGI double.
We live in a time when death is not final, at least not in Hollywood. You can see this in the ways that companies are using AI to allow a dead actor to continue providing a voice to a character (like James Earl Jones' Darth Vader in Fortnite) or how Disney resurrected the long-dead Peter Cushing in "Rogue One," sparking a lawsuit years later.
Unfortunately, it seems likely Brian will return via CGI. After all, "Fast X" director Louis Leterrier already talked about how they could bring the character back if the moment is right, and if Walker's family is fine with it. The problem is that a CGI Brian would not just be disrespectful to Paul Walker (and never look 100% good), but it would damage the perfect send-off to the character and actor in "Furious 7." There is no need to further homage the actor or character, and absolutely no way to improve on that ending without diminishing returns.