Fast & Furious 8 will be set in New York

With Fast & Furious 7 crossing the 1 billion dollar mark at the global box office, the fast franchise has become one of the most successful franchises in movie history, with each film making more money than the last, in keeping with the craziness of the stunts and action depicted in the films.  

So it makes sense that there already are plans about Fast & Furious 8 underway. Franchise star Vin Diesel appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week and offered a quick tease of the next adventure to feature Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and his family. Diesel, reiterates his past comments indicating that the idea is for Kurt Russell to play a larger role in Fast & Furious 8, following his introduction to the Fast universe in Furious 7.

The Fast and the Furious series has gone global with its most recent installments – so, all things considered, taking the action to New York for Fast & Furious 8 (as Diesel says is the current plan) seems like a fairly logical move for the franchise. Russell, as indicated before, is very much a supporting player in Furious 7; the main focus is Dom's battle with Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), the vengeful brother of Owen Shaw.

It's also been reported that Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift star Lucas Black is contracted for two additional Fast movies, after his (brief) Furious 7 appearance. So, like Russell, his part in the seventh Fast installment sets the stage for Black to enjoy a bigger role down the line.

Paul Walker's tragic death left many filmgoers wondering if Furious 7 would mark the end of the series, but clearly that's not the game plan. The Fast universe continues to expand and add new players (like Russell and Djimon Hounsou) in director James Wan's Fast & Furious adventure.

So, although Walker isn't replaceable, there are several other characters/story threads for future movies to focus on instead – and by most accounts, Furious 7 bids farewell to the Brian O'Connor character in a sincere and touching fashion (find out more about the success of Wiz Khalifa's Paul Walker tribute 'See You Soon' in Showbiz Grapevine).

Diesel's statement that Furious 7 is the beginning of a new trilogy also aligns with previous reports on the subject. It's been reported that Justin Lin – who directed the third through sixth Fast and the Furious installments – is lining up to direct a multi-part finale to the franchise.

"Multi-part finale" here might not mean "Fast & Furious 8 – Part 1 & 2″ so much as just two final movies to conclude Dom and Co.'s story. In Vin Diesel's words, "I see stories in threes, so when making Fast 7, I was already thinking of 8 and 9."