Following the death of Paul Walker Universal Studios has had some difficult decisions to make about Fast & Furious. The movie was on a production break when Walker died, and there were also questions about whether it was appropriate if Walker does remain in the movie, whether his last film should be about racing fact cars.
Universal was quick to pledge a portion of the proceeds from the upcoming US home entertainment release of Fast & Furious 6 to a charity Walker co-founded. Now that have announced that they are officially halting production on Fast & Furious 7 indefinitely.
A statement from Universal says, “Right now, all of us at Universal are dedicated to providing support to Paul’s immediate family and our extended Fast & Furious family of cast, crew and filmmakers. At this time we feel it is our responsibility to shut down production on Fast & Furious 7 for a period of time so we can assess all options available to move forward with the franchise. We are committed to keeping Fast & Furious fans informed, and we will provide further information to them when we have it. Until then, we know they join us in mourning the passing of our dear friend Paul Walker.”
There have been rumours that Universal is looking at whether Walker has filmed enough of the movie that he can still be part of the film, or whether a complete rewrite to retire his character will be needed.
Walker’s autopsy results have now confirmed that the actor died from a combination of traumatic and thermal injuries, meaning both the impact of the crash and the fire caused his death.