Fast & Furious franchise star Jordana Brewster says that she is happy that her on-screen husband Brian O’Connor played by the late Paul Walker is still part of Fast Universe. After the tragic death of Walker in 2013, the Fast franchise was put in a rather uncertain position because Walker was one of the leading stars in the films. Walker partially played the role of Brian O’Connor for the last time in Furious 7 in which some scenes were completed by using CGI and digital doubles but after that, the creators of the film have made up some reasons to keep O’Connor off the screen.
Furious 7 featured the perfect emotional goodbye to Walker in which he literally rides off into the sunset and starts a new life with his family and then the next two films have not directly featured the character, but they have referred to the character in passing. Brewster’s Mia Toretto did not reprise her role in The Fate of the Furious but she did come again in F9 and we also got an emotional nod to Walker as at the end of the ninth film during the family barbeque we see O’Connor’s seat empty and after Mia assures Dom and the rest of the gang that he is on his way, we see O’Connor’s signature blue Nissan Skyline GT-R pulling into the driveway.
In an interview with Screen Rant, Brewster said that she is happy that Brian O’Connor is still a part of the Fast universe. She also said that O’Connor has very much become the heart and soul of the film franchise. Read the full statement by Brewster below:
“He is the heart of the franchise. Yes. I’m always so happy with the way that Paul, that Brian is mentioned and the way that he’s honored and the way that he’s kept alive within this universe. That makes me really, really happy. Yeah. And now, I can’t wait to ask … I don’t know if I want to ask Justin or if I just want to see it on screen, but that really makes me happy that they talked about that.”
We don’t know how O’Connor will get his ending in the franchise, but we hope that in the end O’Connor is still happy and living in peace with his family.