Vin Diesel Says Paul Walker’s ‘Fast and Furious’ Character, Brian O’Conner, Will Return in Next Film

According to Vin Diesel, Paul Walker’s Fast and Furious character will appear in Fast X Part 2.

On Saturday, June 28, Diesel took the stage at FuelFest in Pomona, California, and provided some insight into the film, which is set to be the final installment of the franchise.

“The studio said to me, ‘Vin, can we please have the finale of Fast and Furious [in] April 2027?” the Saving Private Ryan actor, 57, remarked at the event. “I said, ‘Under three conditions’ — because I’ve been listening to my fanbase. I have been listening to all of you who have been asking for three things.”

“The first is to bring the franchise back to [Los Angeles]. The second thing was to return to the car culture, to the street racing!” he exclaimed. “The third thing was reuniting Dom and Brian O’Conner — this [is] what you’re gonna get in the finale! Love you!”

Diesel plays Dominic “Dom” Toretto in the film series, which began in 2001, while Paul portrayed fan favorite Brian.

In November 2013, Paul tragically passed away in a car crash at 40 years old while production for Fast 7 was underway.

Since then, Paul’s legacy has been kept alive in the films. The late actor’s brothers, Cody and Caleb Walker, stepped in as body doubles for 2015’s Fast 7 — and the producers opted to have his character retire from street racing, with Brian driving away in an emotional scene as Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” played.

At the premiere of the subsequent film, Fate of the Furious, Diesel shared some words about Paul, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“I just want you to know, there wasn’t a second we made this movie, not a minute … not a day that went by that we weren’t thinking about our brother, Pablo, and how to bring him into the movie and how to represent him and to make something that he will be proud of,” he stated at the time, using his nickname for Paul.

Paul’s character was also mentioned in F9 — and his daughter, Meadow Walker, had a small role in Fast X.

In 2021, Paul’s brother Cody, 37, praised Diesel and the team behind the franchise for giving his character the sendoff he deserved.

“I think Vin and the whole family have done a good job tastefully letting the character ride off into the sunset,” he told TMZ. “I think Paul would get a real kick out of where it’s gone. It’s gotten so crazy. It’s a wild, wild ride at this point.”

“I can’t speculate what he would think, I just know that Vin always takes a very serious approach to keeping Paul’s legacy in mind and has always done a really nice job paying tribute to his character,” Cody shared at the time. “They worked together and were brothers for years. They were all so young when this thing first started.”