Will Furious 7 Be The Last?

A lot of people are wondering how the “Fast” series will continue.  The untimely death of series mainstay Paul Walker has put a a question mark on things.  Aside from potential burn out (everything peaks at one point or another), it would seem almost disrespectful to continue the series, at least straight away, with the passing of Paul Walker.  Last year Vin Diesel claimed that Furious 7 would be the start of a new trilogy, but this was before the tragedy of Walker’s passing.

Universal seriously considered cancelling this movie too, hinting at a possible air of finality.  But I don’t think the series will end.  Not yet anyway.

I think we can expect a break in this series.  At least with the centre cast.  In large part this will probably happen due to the absence of Paul Walker (who will be “retired” in the official story), but also to a lesser extent due to a general need to regroup and rethink the direction of the series.  There are only so many times people will be interested in seeing stars who have been in multiple movies.  Even if (when) Furious 7 sells big, people may not have the appetite for another one straight away, especially without Paul Walker.

I think what they are going to do is continue making these movies but take a left turn for a while and follow a spin off movie.  I was wondering for a while what that could be, then I remembered Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson claiming that a Luke Hobbs spin off movie was going to bridge Fast 6 and Fast 7.  That didn’t happen, but I think that it’s more than likely right now to bridge this movie and probably a new trilogy.

Here is what The Rock said last year:

“[We could see the Hobbs movie] possibly after this one, after the next one.  Possibly.  I’m not quite too sure, I know that’s the goal and we continue to build that character and have him take shape.  But yes, I can’t wait.”

Some lay the continued success of the series at The Rock’s door.  Partially true.  “Fast 4” was a big hit (Tokyo Drift wasn’t exactly a bomb either) precisely due to the re-teaming of Walker and Diesel.  The trailer for that movie was built around them getting back together, since people had been demanding it since the second movie.  That being said, The Rock is a draw, like he always has been, and his character in the series is popular.  They may simply call it “Hobbs”, show people what they want to see (Rock hunting baddies across the globe) and watch the money roll in.  Meanwhile, Walker’s legacy and the main movies avoid sullying their streak.

I would also expect at least one of the familiar faces from the series to join The Rock in some capacity.  A Diesel cameo perhaps.  I’m sure that Universal have been considering turning this into an “Avengers” style tree of movies.  “Hobbs” makes perfect sense at this juncture…