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American actor Vin Dieselโs surprise pop-up at the 2025 FuelFest Los Angeles has fans sharing their takes on his change in appearance.
Diesel, 57, was on hand at the music festival and auto expo event at the Pomona Fairplex on June 28. He helped announce that the next โFast & Furiousโ movie, tentatively titled โFast X: Part 2,โ will hit theaters in 2027.
In addition, Diesel informed โFast & Furiousโ fans that the next chapter in the franchise will return to Los Angeles and the main plot will center on street racing again.
Diesel also shocked FuelFest attendees by confirming his Dom Toretto character will reunite with the late Paul Walkerโs Brian OโConner character in the upcoming sequel.
Walker was killed in a car accident on Nov. 30, 2013, at the age of 40. He was in the middle of shooting โFurious 7โ at the time of his death. Universal had to put the production of the motion picture on hold.
Once filming resumed, Paulโs brothers Caleb and Cody Walker were used as stand-ins for โFurious 7.โ The filmmakers also relied on CGI to complete some scenes by digitally overlaying Paulโs face on other peopleโs bodies.
โJust yesterday I was will Universal Studios,โ Diesel told the FuelFest crowd. โThe studio said to me, โVin, can we please have the finale of Fast & Furious [in] April 2027?โ I said under three conditions.โ
He continued, โThe first is to bring the franchise back to LA. The second thing was to return to the car culture, to the street racing. โฆ The third thing was reuniting Dom and Brian OโConner. That is what youโre going to get in the finale!โ
Dieselโs three-part announcement at FuelFest Los Angeles excited โFast & Furiousโ enthusiasts around the world. However, some social media users were more interested in the One Race Film founderโs weight.
โHe eats Fast and Furious!!!โ joked a troll on the Instagram app. A second jokester commented, โEating fast food in a furious way.โ A third stated, โVin lookin fluffy!โ
One person suggested, โAnd the 4th thingโฆ You need to relax on the late-night burgers and fries with a milkshake and cookies for dessert every night.โ
Other responses took issue with the forthcomingโFast & Furiousโ feature film. For instance, a critic expressed, โWe are seven movies past where the series should have ended.โ
โI thought the last movie was the finale [to be honest],โ posted another unenthused Instagram commenter. Additionally, someone declared, โNo, donโt bring Paul Walkerโs character back. Let that man rest in peace.โ
The original โThe Fast and the Furiousโ premiered in 2001. In addition to Diesel and Walker, the first installment in the franchise starred Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Rick Yune, Chad Lindberg, Johnny Strong, and Ted Levine.
Diesel went on to appear in โFast & Furious,โ โFast Five,โ โFast & Furious 6,โ โFurious 7,โ โThe Fate of the Furious,โ โF9,โ and โFast X.โ He also starred in, wrote, and directed the โFast & Furiousโ short film titled โLos Bandolero.โ
Before his passing, Walker was featured in โ2 Fast 2 Furious,โ โFast & Furious,โ โFast Five,โ โFast & Furious 6,โ and โFurious 7.โ The former amateur boxer played Conner in โThe Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furiousโ short film as well.
The โFast & Furiousโ slate of flicks has grossed more than $7.2 billion at the global box office. โThe Fate of the Furiousโ and โFurious 7โ both crossed the $1 billion mark in lifetime gross. โFast X: Part 2โ is set to be the franchiseโs final outing.
Atlanta-bred rapper Ludacris, who plays Tej Parker in the film series, also discussed the forthcoming eleventh entry. In 2024, he told People, โItโs almost like the beginning of something new, so I donโt feel like itโll ever truly end either, but you never know.โ
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