Neal H. Moritz, a producer of the Fast and Furious franchise, recently spoke to Screen Rant about going on without Paul Walker and plans for the eighth installment of the series.

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Things have been rough for everyone from the cast, crew to the producers of the Fast and Furious series after the death of Walker, but the development for the sequel to Furious 7 is well underway and things are moving swiftly. Moritz told Screen Rant that the movies have always been character-driven and after Walker's loss the main challenge will be dealing with the positioning of the characters going forward:

"We're trying to do what we always do, which is try to come at it from a character point of view and figure out where the characters would go from here. I think the thing that's made The Fast and the Furious special is obviously we have incredible action and so on. But the thing that people really relate to the most is the characters. We're lucky that we have a lot of great characters. Unfortunately, we don't have Paul anymore. His character... has moved on. But we feel like there's a lot still to be mined. That's where we're starting. We're really talking about the characters, where they all sit right now. It's a huge challenge."

Paul Walker's Character To Be Replaced By Brother, Cody, In Furious 8?

Previously Universal chairman Donna Langley had emphasized the importance of the cast in the series. At The Hollywood Reporter's ninth annual Power Players breakfast, Langley suggested that the franchise took a great hit losing Walker and that casting was one of the most crucial factors in The Fast and the Furious universe. This means the franchise is likely to push the envelope in the casting department for Fast and Furious 8.

"[Paul Walker] brought something very unique and very special to the franchise, but we've always tried to up the ante both with the casting and what the movies are about," Langley said at the event.

Fast and Furious 8 will be released on April 15, 2017.

Furious 7 hit theaters on April 3, 2015.

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Tags: Fast and Furious 8 Furious 7 Movies Paul Walker