Following the release of Barry Hertz’s new book, Welcome to the Family, Fast & Furious fans have finally learned how the seventh movie, which was released after the death of Paul Walker, was supposed to end.
“Originally, [Furious 7] ended with the whole crew back at Neptune’s Net, the Malibu seafood joint off Pacific Coast Highway where Brian and Dom had bonded in the first movie, celebrating the successful retrieval of the ‘God’s Eye’ MacGuffin that Jason Statham’s villain, Deckard Shaw, was pursuing,” Hertz explained (via Screen Rant).
“But instead of giving the device back to the mysterious government agent Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell), who had just awarded the team congressional commendations, Dom crushes the God’s Eye under his boot, saying that it was too powerful for any one person to possess. The team then roars off onto the PCH, with the smiling Dom crumpling the commendation into a ball and tossing it out the window as the score swells and the end credits roll.”
According to Screen Rant, the seventh instalment was also expected to conclude with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and the rest of the crew planning their next adventure, by throwing a knife at a map and letting fate decide where they’d travel to next. When the news broke that Walker had been tragically killed in a car accident in 2013, however, the third act was scrapped, and a new one was added.
Premiering in cinemas in April 2015 – one year and four months after Walker’s death – Furious 7 was released as a tribute to the late actor. As fans will remember, in the film’s final scenes, a newly retired Brian O’Conner (Walker) is captured playing on the beach with his wife, Mia (Jordana Brewster) and son, Jack, as the rest of the crew watches on.
Universal
Related: Best film and TV tours for 2025
In a final nod to the character, Dominic (Vin Diesel) begins to drive away, and Brian pulls up alongside him in his white 1995 Toyota Supra. “Hey, thought you could leave without saying goodbye?” he says, before Dominic remembers some of his fondest memories of Brian, played out in a montage of scenes from the previous movies. As the duo drive off in different directions, Dominic remarks that Brian will always be with him and will always be his brother.
The ending was universally praised by fans of the franchise. The movie’s VFX artists were able to add new scenes of Walker by using cutting-edge visual effects, archive footage from the Fast movies and body double work from his brothers Caleb and Cody Walker.
Universal Pictures
Related: Fast & Furious fans divided by Vin Diesel saying new movie will bring back Brian
In an interview with Collider, the film’s director, James Wan, said: “The original ending of Furious 7 was setting up, you know, the bigger world of where the Fast and Furious franchise could go into. And that’s obviously very smart of them to think so. But when the tragedy happened, all of that became irrelevant. So it did not matter anymore, all of that stuff. And to the studio’s credit, they did not push for that.
“They realised how important it was to make a movie that finishes and that just outright is a tribute to Paul Walker. So I give them a lot of credit for being bigger than that and going along with this ending that is the right ending to go with.”
The new edition of Living Legends is here! Buy Ariana & Witches in newsagents or online, priced at just £8.99.
Megan is a freelance news reporter for Digital Spy.Â