Vin Diesel

With “Furious 7” roaring past the billion-dollar mark at the box office, “Fast and Furious 8” seemed inevitable. But even fans of the franchise didn't probably expect it to be this soon. 

Talking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, franchise star Vin Diesel revealed that they are aiming to get the next movie into theaters on April 14, 2017. There aren't really any other significant details to share at this point, but with a date less than two years away, that seems to indicate that Universal Pictures has a plan in place, and from what Diesel said in the build up to “Furious 7”, that could very well be the case.

Doing the press rounds for the film - which became the fastest movie to reach $1 billion dollar milestone at the box office, Diesel revealed a couple of juicy details about the current plans for “Fast and Furious 8”. One is Kurt Russell's character, the shadowy government agent known only as Mr. Nobody, could play a bigger role in the next adventure. In fact, Diesel said that Russell was hired for Furious 7 with the intention of beefing up his presence in future arcs.

It also sounds like “Fast and Furious 8” is taking the show on the road. No stranger to exotic locales, the franchise has been all over the world, but their roots have always remained in Southern California. Again, according to Diesel, New York, a city they haven't visited on screen yet, will figure prominently in the story. 

In addition to beefing up Mr. Nobody's role, it also sounds like they're looking to invite a familiar face back to the party in the form of Eva Mendes. Reports circulated a while back that she could reprise her role as US Customs Agent Monica Fuentes from “2 Fast 2 Furious”. She shows up in the post-credits scene from Fast Five, and if the story includes more government involvement, it's entirely plausible that she could show up.

Source: Cinemablend