‘Fast & Furious 9’: Vin Diesel’s Photo With Cody Walker Raises Questions Among Fans About Possible Brian O’Conner Return

Vin Diesel is going all out it would seem as he promotes the ninth film in the Fast & Furious franchise. This time he’s teasing what appears to be a possible return for Brian O’Conner, the character portrayed by late actor Paul Walker, to the franchise.

Fast & Furious 9 has been filming for a few weeks at this point and has brought back several past cast members, including Jordana Brewster who played Walker’s love interest Mia in the earlier films. Brewster exited the film series in the seventh entry following the death of Walker and the happy ending for O’Conner on screen.

Now Diesel seems to be hinting we might get another chapter on the story for Brian and Mia, along with their young son Brian Jr. The actor shared that news a few weeks ago and just added more fuel to the fire with a photo of Cody Walker, Paul’s brother, on set during production.

“There is something special that happens every time Cody comes to visit production,” Diesel wrote in the caption for the photo. “Always making Pablo proud! All love, always.”

Cody and Caleb Walker stepped in for their late brother to finish scenes in Furious 7, which was filming at the time of the fatal accident that ended his life. Now that he’s back on the set for the next film in the franchise, the rumor is that Brian O’Conner will return through the same trickery that made the seventh film possible.

While this might seem troubling and disrespectful, it isn’t likely that O’Conner would return for the entire film or anything as wild as that. Instead, his fate will likely be a major plot point in the film.

All of this is just speculation for the moment and Walker could have just been visiting the set and his friends.

That said, Fast & Furious 9 seems dead set on pulling out the stops to compete with its spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw. With Dwayne Johnson leaving for that film and budding franchise, Diesel and the rest of the Fast & Furious family are welcoming John Cena to the fold and Walking Dead actor Michael Rooker.

The film won’t appear in theaters until May 22, 2020, so there is still plenty of time for speculation. Seeing O’Conner return to the screen would not be too much of a shock. The real question is how will it look on the screen?