20 Actors Returning For Upcoming Movie Sequels

Paul Walker's tenure in the Fast and Furious franchise was cut heartbreakingly short when he died in a car accident in 2013 in the middle of shooting Furious 7. 

This prompted production to pivot, completing Walker's performance by having his brothers Caleb and Cody serve as body doubles combined with cutting edge digital doubles of Walker himself.

It served as a bittersweet but affecting farewell to Walker's Brian O'Conner, who retired from Dom's (Vin Diesel) team at the end to live a quiet life with his family, allowing the character to continue existing off-screen.

Brian has been indirectly referenced in every subsequent sequel, but Diesel recently confirmed that O'Conner is set to return in earnest in the apparently final entry into the mainline series, Fast 11.

Obviously there's no way for Walker to directly reprise his role, and so the assumption is that Brian will appear in the film through similar techniques to those used in Furious 7 - a combination of body doubles and digital doubles, quite probably taking advantage of modern AI/deepfake tech.

It's certainly stoked mixed feelings among fans, some considering it a "ghoulish" artistic choice while others recognise Diesel's desire to honour his late friend in the series' big finale.