Cody and Caleb Walker helped stand-in for the late actor to complete “Furious 7” production.

Paul Walker’s brother won’t be involved in possibly bringing Brian back for final Fast & Furious film (exclusive)

Cody and Caleb Walker helped stand-in for the late actor to complete “Furious 7” production.

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

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September 9, 2026 12:29 p.m. ET

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Paul Walker in ‘Furious 7’. Credit:

Scott Garfield/Universal Pictures/courtesy Everett

- Paul Walker’s brother isn’t “interested” in helping *Fast & Furious* bring Brian back for final film.

- Cody and Caleb Walker previously stood-in for the late actor when he died during production of *Furious 7*.

- Cody says the decision is up to Paul’s daughter, Meadow.

You won’t be seeing Cody Walker involved in *Fast & Furious* again.

When Paul Walker died in a car accident during a break from *Furious 7* production in 2013, his younger brothers, Cody and Caleb, helped complete the film by standing in for the late actor. Walker’s Brian got a beautiful sendoff in the iconic ending scene of the billion-dollar hit, but *Fast* patriarch Vin Diesel has hinted that Brian could return for the upcoming 11th and final installment. If that’s the case, it will be without Cody.

“My stance is, it’s what Meadow wants to see done; it’s her father,” Cody tells ** of Paul’s daughter, who appeared in *Fast X* and is close with Diesel. “I would not be interested in doing that again. I love the way his character exited the franchise. They didn’t kill him off, they didn’t do something cheesy like that. It’s beautiful, [Brian] is off raising his kids. But if they want to do that, if Meadow would like to see that, they don’t need me or Caleb. AI was not a thing back in 2014, so they could do that. There’s years of footage that was never used from these other *Fast* films. They’re the best in the business, they can figure that out.”

Tyrese Gibson and Cody Walker at Fuel Fest.

courtesy Cody Walker

When Walker died, many of his scenes in *Furious 7 *hadn’t been filmed yet. Production was initially on an indefinite pause as the *Fast* family mourned their loss.

“The first thing all of us were struggling with was, ‘What the hell are we doing here? What’s *Fast & Furious* without Paul?’” star Tyrese Gibson told EW in 2021. “And are we going to come off as just a bunch of narcissists — deciding what Paul meant to the franchise, and saying, ‘We’re moving forward anyway’?”

Once everyone agreed that Paul would want them to finish, filming started back up months later, with Cody, Caleb, and actor John Brotherton stepping in as doubles, aided by the use of new, revolutionary visual effects techniques.

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In 2018, following the release of the first *Fast *without Brian and Paul, *The Fate of the Furious*, both Walker brothers expressed an interest in returning to continue the legacy.

“I just hope we get to have a little cameo and bring Paul back to save the day and I get to help create that again,” Caleb said, with Cody adding, “I think there could potentially be a way to do it. But it would take a lot of thought and it’d have to be tasteful.”

Tyrese Gibson reflects on his close bond with Paul Walker: 'What's 'Fast' without Paul?'

Vin Diesel reflects on Paul Walker’s ‘Fast & Furious’ legacy: ‘He is always Brian’ (exclusive)

The *Fast* movies have since made little nods to Brian’s continued existence in the universe, without actually showing him. And then Diesel made headlines in 2025 when he attended Fuel Fest, a car event put on by Cody, and declared that he was plotting a Brian comeback.

“The studio said to me, ‘Vin, can we please have the finale of *Fast & Furious* [in] April 2027?’” Diesel shared. “I said, ‘Under three conditions.’ The first is to bring the franchise back to L.A. The second thing was to return to the car culture, to the street racing. The third thing was reuniting Dom and Brian O’Conner. That is what you’re going to get in the finale.”

Cody Walker and Vin Diesel at Fuel Fest.

courtesy Cody Walker

Cody stood next to Diesel as he made that announcement, but he says that he doesn’t know what the future holds for Brian and *Fast Forever*, which opens in theaters on March 17, 2028.

“I have no idea what to expect there,” Cody tells EW. “I talked to Vin, and when it comes to this whole process, he gets very ethereal; it’s a lot of weight. The guy is incredible, he’s extremely gifted, he takes this very seriously, and there’s a mountain on Vin’s shoulders. He wants this to be the best one and as good as it can be because it’s the final [one].”

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