Furious 7 was originally going to be the last entry in the Fast Saga, but here's why it wasn't. Before Paul Walker's death in 2013, there were considerations that Furious 7 would be the final installment, but not long after the seventh movie released in theaters, Vin Diesel confirmed plans to make an eighth movie - and that film, The Fate of the Furious, released two years later in 2017. But why did that happen and why are there more sequels coming?
The Fast & Furious franchise is an unlikely success story, beginning with a mediocre release of The Fast and the Furious in 2001, followed by a relatively unconnected sequel, a spinoff, and then finally a full-fledged follow-up movie. But it was that really reinvigorated the Fast Saga; while the films before had seen moderate success, Fast Five expanded the horizons for what a Fast and Furious film could be. From there, the franchise has continued to amp up the scale - the humble racing series is now a powerhouse action property, in which the characters are practically invincible. But, through all of the action and carnage, the films have maintained a very powerful theme of family throughout every endeavor. Family is the heart of a Fast and Furious film, but it's not just the characters, as the cast themselves has been known to be quite close too.
Following Walker's death, paying tribute to Walker - and the production team ultimately used the actor's brothers to help finish the film by having them act as doubles. Furious 7 was meant to close out the new trilogy and considering Walker's death, having it be the end was what Morgan had in mind as well. He told Collider: "It could’ve been the end of the franchise. We actually were thinking there for a minute, ‘Maybe we just leave this, go out on a good note and leave it alone’ and we all kind of made an agreement to say that we wouldn’t revisit this unless we had a story that did something dramatically different, that was worthy of being done."
Despite thinking about ending the Fast Saga with Furious 7, Diesel and Universal agreed to make another trilogy, not only after seeing how well Furious 7 performed at the box office, but also because of what Walker said shortly before his death. Walker frequently talked about the eighth film and, considering Fast and Furious is one of Universal's biggest cash cows, its longevity was never doubtful. In one of his final interviews with Collider, Walker said, "Well, the studio supposedly wants 8, 9 and 10. I’ll be 50. Even if 7 were to [tank], there’s at least an 8. That’s a guarantee." With the announcement of Fate of the Furious, it was revealed that it would be the first in a new Fast & Furious trilogy, just as Paul had teased.
In the end, though, it was ultimately Diesel who decided to move ahead with more Fast & Furious movies. Not only does the actor lead the films, but he is also involved as a producer, too, so he has a lot of power over the creative decisions. In an interview with Fast and Furious 8 that drove him to make the film. "In some ways, when your brother guarantees something, you feel like you have to make it come to ," he said. "Seven is for Paul. Eight is from Paul." The Fast Saga was Paul Walker's legacy; Furious 7 wasn't the last because Walker wanted more and Diesel ensured that happened.
