The Fast and Furious Franchise Has Done Paul Walker Dirty
By Germain Lussier
When one of the biggest stars of a franchise dies, obviously that franchise is no longer going to be the same. Such is the case for the Fast and Furious franchise which, 10 years ago last week, lost one of its original stars, Paul Walker. Since Walker’s death, several films have been made continuing the Fast story, and with each subsequent entry Walker’s character has been treated with an odd disregard and growing disrespect that feels at odds with the series’ universal message of family.
This story began 22 years ago when the original The Fast and the Furious was released in theaters. The Point Break-inspired racing film was a hit for many reasons, among the biggest being the adversarial relationship between Walker’s character, undercover cop Brian O’Conner, and street racer Dominic Toretto, played by Vin Diesel. The mortal enemies turned friends gave the film a complex beating heart and when Diesel didn’t return for the second film, the filmmakers introduced a very similar foil for Brian, Roman Pierce (Tyrese Gibson), to give the film that same feeling.
Walker and Diesel wouldn’t reunite until the fourth film, 2009’s Fast and Furious, and it’s not a coincidence that’s when the franchise shot into the stratosphere. By this point, the characters had each been through so much they needed each other and that notion of “family” which has since become a Fast and Furious staple was born. It continued into the franchise’s fifth, sixth, and seventh films, which is when tragedy struck.
Walker died November 30, 2013, right in the middle of production of Furious 7. After a period of grieving, drastic changes were made to the film, with Walker’s brothers agreeing to stand in for him so it could be completed. The movie ends with Brian and Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) welcoming their first child and the group acknowledging that they’d both be leaving the gang. Brian drives off into the sunset, alive, well, and happy with his choice of family over crime.
