The Fast and Furious 8 location was teased when Vin Diesel spoke with Jimmy Kimmel recently. Apparently, the eighth film in the franchise will take place in New York.
The series is known to be progressing from a simple story about illegally modified cars being raced for pink slips to an all-out international clash of some rather charismatic titans. Furious 7 was basically Vin Diesel’s answer to The Expendables , starring such action heavyweights as himself, Dwayne Johnson, Kurt Russell, Tony Jaa, and Jason Statham .
Three of them may be back for the Fast and Furious 8 cast. With Vin headlining the series except for 2 Fast 2 Furious and Tokyo Drift (in which he made an uncredited cameo), the additional returning stars so far could be Dwayne Johnson (Hobbs) and Kurt Russell (Mr. Nobody).
Vin teased on Jimmy Kimmel Live that he had Kurt Russell in mind when he picked the Fast and Furious 8 location as New York, possibly as an inside reference to the veteran actor’s previous film Escape from New York .
It seems the international theme from the last few films chronologically may be falling by the wayside now, as well as any appearances from the late Paul Walker (for obvious reasons). It would certainly be an interesting nod to Russell’s fans if there was possibly a DVD collection of his Snake Plissken series sitting around as an Easter Egg in the Fast and Furious 8 location of the Big Apple.
[The following paragraph explaining Russell’s role in the series contains spoilers. You have been warned.]
Russell’s role is as a shadowy government agent who needs Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) to retrieve a kidnapped hacker named Ramsey (another possible nod to Russell’s past work, Poseidon ). This hacker is the creator of a device called the God Eye, basically something the NSA could only dream about, as it can locate anyone anywhere at any time. While in possession of the device, Toretto uses it to find Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham).
Vin Diesel says the eighth Fast and Furious movie will be set in New York http://t.co/as0x8r4G7V pic.twitter.com/hLJCcgKfez
— The Verge (@verge) April 1, 2015
Diesel added that Russell’s character is one of his new favorites.
“Kurt Russell came in for this movie. But we really hired him because of a story that follows this that takes place in New York. We created somebody that I think is a mystery man. You never know his name. You never know quite what world he’s in. And we don’t, and I think that’s what’s exciting about it.”
While the story is mostly unknown so far, Diesel told Kimmel that he thinks of the films as trilogies, meaning that Furious 7 was the beginning of a new story. With the reveal of the Fast and Furious 8 location as New York , we could be seeing the crew tearing up the Big Apple by next year.
[Image via HitFix ]