Fast and Furious 8 Release Date and Casting Rumors: Justin Bieber Will Join The Group

By Jenn Loro - 24 Mar '16 06:37AM

The highly successful franchise Fast and Furious 8 is reportedly set to hit American theaters on April 14, 2017. As the work on the eighth installment progresses, questions over the future of Paul Walker's character, Brian O'Conner, get fans wondering as to how things will turn out in the trilogy that will mark the end of the successful movie franchise.

According to a report by Movie Pilot, unconfirmed speculations suggest that singer and composer Justin Bieber will fill in Paul Walker's shoes in his celebrated role as a cop-turned-street racing maverick partner of lead character Dominic Toretto who is played by Vin Diesel.

However, the action series may also continue without the need for O'Conner's role in the movie. There are talks of retiring Walker's character from the scenes following his death as reported by MStars News.

In 2014, Walker's brothers Cody and Caleb played stand-in roles for their O'Connor for the F7 movie which required sophisticated digital technology to recreate his character in the film. In the case for the F8, new faces would be cast instead.

Since nothing is official yet, it is also possible that Bieber may enter not as the new O'Connor but as a partner to Lucas Black's Sean Boswell character according to Movie News Guide.

As for the other characters last seen in the previous Fast and Furious movies, a memoir can resurrect some characters back to the scenes especially Eva Mendes' character as Monica Fuentes.

As for other roundup details, Charlize Theron will fill in the lead villain in the upcoming installment with Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Ludacris, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, and of course Vin Diesel all reprising their roles.

F8 will be the first part of the trilogy with two more sequels to complete the 10-movie franchise.

"Universal has been so good to me and so trusting of the vision. They have been like family. I promised the studio I would deliver one last Trilogy to end the saga," said Diesel as quoted by Australian Network News.