The producers of "Fast and Furious 7" have decided not to kill off Paul Walker's character Brian O'Connor. Walker died in a tragic car accident Nov. 30 in Santa Clarita, Calif. At the time of his death he was midway through filming for "Fast 7."
Following the death, producers struggled with how to move forward with the film. There were rumors that the entire project would be scrapped while other rumors claimed that Walker's character would die in the upcoming film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, sources revealed that producers came to the agreement that Brian O'Connor would "retire."
"The plan is to 'retire' the character in a way that the studio hopes will satisfy fans of the franchise and make use of the existing footage of Walker," THR writes.
Director James Wan, writer Chris Morgan and Universal's lead executive Jeffrey Kirschenbaum viewed the footage they already shot with Walker.
"The trio then devised a plan to tweak the existing script so that Walker would remain a part of the story but could be written out, allowing the franchise to continue without him," THR writes.
This decision will require the "Fast 7" writers to add additional scenes to be filmed. The movie was originally slated for a summer 2014 release date by Universal announced that it would be pushed back until April 10, 2015.
It was previously reported by the Daily Mail that Walker's younger brother Cody, a Hollywood stunt man, was asked to film some scenes for the movie.
"They soon realized they needed someone who looked like Paul to finish the movie and that's when they approached his nearly identical brother, Cody," the source told the Daily Mail. "They can shoot Cody from behind and at distance and if it's a shot they need Paul's face in close up they can CGI it later on."
It's not clear if Cody has agreed to appear in the film.
