The death of Paul Walker left some mighty big shoes to fill in the Fast & Furious franchise. Some film series might have packed it in after the death of one of its biggest stars, but the Fast-verse is a little bit different than your average blockbuster property. For one thing, characters have been coming and going from its ever-expanding storyline from the very beginning. For another, Furious 7 was the biggest movie in the series to date by a very large margin; it’s worldwide box office total was almost double that of Fast & Furious 6. So these movies aren’t going anywhere. But they do need some new stars.

There’s been no official confirmation from Universal on Charlize Theron’s casting as the villain in Fast 8, but whomever eventually ends up as the big bad in the Fast & Furious sequel can rest easy knowing they’ll have at least one henchman at their disposal. Game of Thrones star Kristofer Hivju, aka Tormund Giantsbane, has joined the cast of Fast 8 as an associate of the new antagonist. Until we find out who that is, let’s continue to cross our fingers and whisper “please be Charlize Theron, please be Charlize Theron.”

Los Angeles. Brazil. London. Abu Dhabi. Cleveland. According to new reports, Fast and Furious 8 is set to begin filming next month and following in a long line of exotic and beautiful locales, the new installment will make its way to C-Town...

Fact: Mad Max: Fury Road was one of the best films of 2015, if not of all time. Fact: Charlize Theron is an amazing actress who’s pretty great at playing not-so-nice characters and stone cold badasses. Fact: Fury Road proved that she could be even more badass when you put her behind the wheel, leading us to daydream about seeing Theron in a Fast and Furious movie. So here’s an even better fact: Fast 8 might be making those dreams come true.

Though Fast and Furious 7 seemed like an obvious, but tragic way to bring the franchise to a close, there was no way Universal Pictures was going to walk away from a franchise that was still bringing in over $350 million. So, Vin Diesel did what he does: he announced a new Fast and Furious trilogy last year that would end the franchise for good (and by “for good” we mean for a few years until they reboot it with a new cast). Fast and Furious 8 had already been scheduled for a April 14, 2017 release, but now Universal Pictures has given those last two Fast and Furious movies release dates as well.

Vin Diesel is the most prolific reporter of Vin Diesel news, and his latest social media posts offer a couple of updates on two of his big upcoming projects: Furious 8 and xXx 3. The actor has posted a new promo image for Universal’s upcoming Fast and Furious sequel, which confirms the New York setting and offers an appropriate tagline, while two other photos tease an interesting action sequence in xXx 3.

You know the Fast and Furious drill by now: fast cars, Vin Diesel, bromance, fast cars, insane chases and stunts, fast cars, internationally wanted criminal in the mix, rinse, repeat. Even then, each Fast and Furious movie has — mostly — tried to do something a little different, whether that’s in upping the stunt ante or taking the action to exotic new locations, or giving Dwayne Johnson a giant military-grade helicopter machine gun. Accordingly, Furious 8 director F. Gary Gray is looking to keep things fresh in the upcoming sequel, and he has no intention of disappointing the Fast and Furious fanbase.

We don’t know a whole lot about Furious 8 — Straight Outta Compton’s F. Gary Gray is directing and Vin Diesel is obviously returning, and…okay, a director and Vin Diesel is all you really need to put a movie together, even if Diesel has to play every role himself (and he would, too). Today brings a quick update on the upcoming sequel, as Gray is reportedly eyeing a few international filming locations, aka a few places that will look pretty cool when Diesel and the Furious crew race and jump and explode their cars all over the landscape.

The Wikipedia page listing Fast and Furious characters runs 66 entries. There are ten main characters, like Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and the late Paul Walker’s Brian O’Conner, on down through the various supporting characters, villains, and cops who have chased Dom and Brian’s crew of honorable thieves all over the globe through seven increasingly crazy and increasingly awesome entries.

Vin Diesel is the go-to source for all the latest, breaking Vin Diesel-related news. The actor isn’t shy about sharing info with fans on Facebook or in interviews — last week he revealed that the director of xXx 3 is D.J. Caruso, and this week he has a bit more interesting news to share, as he’s revealed the location for the next Fast and Furious movie.