How Furious 7 Finished Paul Walker's Scenes After His Death

Paul Walker's Furious 7 scenes were completed following the actor's death thanks to some help from his family and CGI work. The seventh Fast & Furious movie was rocked with tragedy when Walker was killed in a vehicular crash in November 2013, at which point Furious 7 was only partially done. Having played Brian O'Conner alongside Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) since the original The Fast and the Furious in 2001, Walker's tragic passing left a massive hole in The Fast Saga. Understandably, the movie's creative team gave serious thought to how to continue without a key member of the team.

Eventually, they decided to continue on in the wake of Walker's passing and the movie went on to become a massive box office success, grossing over $1.5 billion in theaters worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), in addition to earning widespread acclaim for the touching and tasteful way it "retires" Brian. In order to both finish the film and give Paul Walker's Fast and Furious character a fitting conclusion to his personal journey, the Fast & Furious 7 production team (including screenwriter Chris Morgan, director James Wan, and their many VFX artists) had to think decidedly outside the box.

How Brian's Furious 7 Scenes Were Finished

Paul Walker's Own Brothers Helped Complete His Work

After Brian O'Conner's storyline in Furious 7 was rewritten, including the new tribute to Paul Walker, the film's crew set about the task of producing some 350 additional shots of Walker to flesh out his role in the movie, 90 of which used archived footage of the actor from previous outtakes or shots from earlier Fast & Furious films, which were then relit and repurposed.

The other 260 shots were completed by having Paul's brothers, Caleb and Cody, perform his scenes in character, then replacing their faces with CGI versions of Paul in post-production. As Weta VFX supervisor Joe Letteri explained in 2015 (viaTHR), the Fast & Furious 7 effects team created the CGI replacement for Paul Walker's face by first scanning his brothers to use them as a point of reference.

Paul Walker's Long History In The Fast Saga Helped Complete Furious 7

Walker's Tribute Created An Iconic Cinematic Moment

In the end, the Furious 7 filmmakers ended up using older footage of Walker as a reference the most, "because as close as the brothers were in style and mannerisms, they just weren't Paul when Paul played his character," according to Letteri. Complicating matters, many of these shots included dialogue, which the movie's sound editors had to create by drawing from existing dialogue previously recorded by Walker. Letteri also touched on the process of crafting Walker's CGI face and how the film's VFX artists had to be extra careful to prevent the effect from landing somewhere in the "Uncanny Valley."

While the final result wasn't flawless, it was nevertheless very impressive, considering the major obstacles the movie's VFX artists had to overcome. It all culminated in the Furious 7 ending, where Dom and Brian have one final "race" but are far more invested in simply enjoying their time riding together before reaching a fork in the road and heading off in separate directions. It is an emotional moment of the movie nearly breaking the fourth wall in a touching tribute to the late costar.

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Furious 7: Which Brian O'Conner Scenes Weren't Paul Walker

Following Paul Walker's death in 2013 during the production of Furious 7, some scenes were completed using CGI and his brothers as body doubles.

While the moment provided a lovely sendoff for Walker's O'Conner, F9 featured a non-visual cameo of the character. At the end of the film, Dom pauses before the family of friends says grace, saying that there's one empty chair at the table. Mia's response is "he's on the way," just before a blue Nissan Skyline drives up to the home and pulls up into the driveway.

The car is obviously a nod to Walker's character, who drove the vehicle throughout the Fast and Furious franchise, causing many to speculate whether Brian could appear in future Fast Saga movies (with the help of CGI). Ultimately, Furious 7 bid O'Conner farewell in a satisfactory way, and time will tell whether the filmmakers do bring him back through digital rendering as the film franchise comes to a close.

The Fast Saga Didn't Need CGI To Include Brian After Furious 7

Brian's Presence In The Movies Has Continued To Be A Tribute To Walker's Importance To The Franchise

The remaining movies have Brian O'Conner living his best life off-screen looking after the kids, and the team retired him to protect his family. Killing his character would have felt insensitive considering that Walker passed away in a car accident, so keeping his character alive is a great way to honor the actor without recasting or over-relying on tasteless CGI. In F9, Brian's looking after Dom's son, too, and he's become a really useful narrative tool for keeping important characters safe offscreen.

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Is Paul Walker's Brian In Fast X?

The anticipation is mounting for what Fast X will bring to the BBQ as the final entry in the Fast Saga. Could it be Brian O’Conner’s return?

Brian O'Conner's presence is felt not only in the plot points but also when his trademark Nissan Skyline pulls up to the family barbecue during the F9 ending. It gives Brian a physical presence for the first time, yet doesn't need Walker's likeness to be impactful. Ultimately, Brian has become a safe haven for the next generation of Torettos and O'Conners, and the unfortunate verisimilitude of Walker's death has been adapted into The Fast Saga in a way that, surprisingly poignantly, hammers home the series' themes of family, memory, and legacy.

How Fast X Handles Paul Walker's Character

Brian Still Remains An Important Person In Dom's Life

Nearly a decade after Paul Walker's death and his last appearance in Furious 7, fans still miss having him as a part of this story — but the franchise is still finding innovative ways to honor his character. Prior to the release of the most recent movie in the franchise, many theorized that the Fast Saga would debut Brian O'Conner's sister in the form of Brie Larson's new character who debuted in Fast X. That didn't happen, as Larson played the daughter of Mr. Nobody in the movie. However, Fast X used Brian anyway.

For the first time since Furious 7, Brian was in action in Fast X. However, it wasn't in the present-day story action, but in flashback footage from 10 years before this story took place. The entire opening scene showed the origin story of Dante Reyes, the new big bad in the Fast Saga universe. That means that fans saw Walker up close and in action, as he and Dom stole the vault from Hernan Reyes before leaving him there to die.

It was nice to see Walker back again, even if it was older scenes from Fast Five. Furthermore, Dom had a long look at several photos of Brian, once again showing Paul Walker's importance in the franchise.

Fast 11 Calls For Brian's Inclusion, Which Could Be A Problem

Dante Would Blame Brian For His Father's Death Too

Fast X wasn't the final movie in the Fast and Furious franchise, with Fast 11 currently pegged for a 2026 release. However, the final movie in the Fast Saga could have serious problems when it comes to Paul Walker's Brian, as the plot set up by Fast X seems to call for him to appear.

The antagonist for Fast X and the upcoming Fast 11, Dante (Jason Momoa), is seeking revenge on everyone who took part in the heist in Fast Five, which killed his father. Since Brian was involved, and is still alive in the Fast and Furious universe, this presents something of an issue. It's highly unlikely that Dante, who appears to be something of a criminal mastermind who doesn't overlook details, would be willing to let Brian off the hook.

This means that Fast 11 has to either include him or risk a glaring plothole. The other option is to have Brian killed off-screen between the two movies, which would likely cause a significant amount of chagrin for fans of the franchise. Brian was such an integral part of The Fast and the Furious that, especially given the legacy of the late Paul Walker, to have his character quietly written out would feel unjust.

However, this problem hasn't been overlooked by the cast and crew of Fast X. In 2023, Vin Diesel assured fans that Fast 11 would give Brian a proper send-off that honored the late Paul Walker and the significance of his character:

"That moment in 2013 when the world was struggling with his loss, the studio made a very bold and righteous and daring decision to keep Brian O’Conner alive. I will give you this without spoiling anything: I couldn’t imagine this saga ending without truly saying goodbye to Brian O’Conner."

Since details about the next movie still remain scarce, it's impossible to speculate about what this proper send-off will look like. Given just how dedicated the creative team was to ensuring Brian's scenes looked as authentic as possible in Furious 7, however, it's likely that similar techniques will be used to give Paul Walker's character one final appearance before the franchise concludes.

How Other Movies Handled Filming After An Actor's Death

Shrek And Gladiator Dealt With An Actor's Death During Production

Along with the immense personal loss for all that were close to him, the production of Furious 7 was faced with a very difficult task in the aftermath of Paul Walker's death. However, this is not a situation that is new in Hollywood as there have been a number of instances in which actors have died while filming a movie. This has also led to several different solutions to how to deal with the loss of a key member of the production.

How the production approaches the dilemma is largely dependent on what stage the movie is at in its filming. There have been instances in which roles simply had to be recast in order to finish the project. Chris Farley was originally the voice of Shrek in the animated movie and recorded a majority of his lines. However, in the aftermath of his death, the film could not be completed without additional lines of dialogue being recorded and Mike Myers was brought in to take over the lead role.

Actors Who Died During Filming:

In one of the most unique examples of a movie dealing with the death of an actor, Heath Ledger passed away early into the filming of Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Rather than recast what would have been Ledger's final role, the movie used its fantasy premise to have Ledger's lead character morph into different versions of himself throughout the movie, with Jude Law, Johnny Depp, and Colin Farrell playing the role.

The approach taken with Paul Walker on Furious 7 is a more common one as CGI has been used to put the deceased actor's face on a body double in order to complete scenes. The first instance of this was used back in 2000 following the death of Oliver Reed during the filming of Gladiator. While some of Reed's scenes were given to other characters, it was necessary to use existing footage of Reed to complete his performance in a feat that was deemed groundbreaking at the time.

The seventh film in the Fast & Furious franchise, Furious 7 follows Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), and their found family of street racing criminals as they're enlisted by the mysterious Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) to help save the world. When a cyberterrorist (Djimon Hounsou) threatens to steal the powerful hacking program known as God's Eye, the Fast Family race into action in a high-octane thrill ride in order to stop him. 

Release Date April 3, 2015

Writers Chris Morgan

Runtime 2h 20m