This is got to be the most entertaining and fascinating casting rumor coming from the end of the eighth installment of the “Fast & Furious” car racing movie franchise. Accordingly, pop star Justin Bieber will be featured in the movie as Lucas Black’s car racing buddy, reports the Australia Network News.
The last time that Lucas Black became part of the “Fast & Furious” franchise was during its third installment titled “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” where he was the protagonist along with Korean actor Sung Kang, who until the end of “Fast & Furious 6” played Han Seoul-Oh in the series.
However, unlike Sung Kang, who eventually moved on to the next three installments of the franchise, Black never made it out of the “Tokyo Drift” film.
But latest casting reports for “Fast & Furious 8” now indicate that Lucas Black will be taken back into the franchise to sort of fill for the absence of the late Paul Walker, who shall no longer be coming back to the movie series for obvious reasons.
Black will reprise his role as Sean Boswell. Back in “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” Sean was a 17-year-old high school student and an American expat living in Tokyo.
He was a troublemaker with a talent for auto mechanics who made friends with Twinkie, Neela, and Han Seoul-Oh, who later on becomes his mentor.
Apart from the cars and the racing plotline, what gave the “Tokyo Drift” the signature “Fast & Furious” mark is no other than Vin Diesel himself, who played a cameo role in the movie as Dominic ‘Dom’ Toretto.
Drawing fascination from critics
The reason why the rumored casting of Justin Bieber is drawing fascination from fans and critics is because before the start of production of “Fast & Furious 7,” Australian actress Ruby Rose was being considered for the role.
Eventually, her casting did not push through. There were reports back then that some of the cast members were saying that she looked like Justin Bieber.
So given the latest rumors that Justin Bieber is being considered as a casting addition to “Fast & Furious 8,” there are two possible scenarios in the situation.
The first one is that the producers decided to go for the real Justin Bieber rather than his look-alike. And the second one is that the real casting addition is Ruby Rose but the rumors are making it appear that it is Justin Bieber to further hype up the film, given the huge following of The Biebs.
Filling in the shoes of Paul Walker
The producers decided to take on Lucas Black because they wanted to fill in the shoes left by the late Paul Walker for “Fast & Furious 8,” due to hit global theaters on April 14, 2017.
But Black is definitely not coming in as Brian O’Conner, Paul’s character in the TV series, but as Sean Boswell and he will be joining Dom’s group that includes series regulars Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, and Jason Statham.
The producers admit that the demise of Paul Walker has created a huge hole in the film franchise, so much so that there were also rumors coming out that they intend to bring back the actor again for “Fast & Furious 8” through CGI and another stand-in by Paul’s brother Cody.
But Ron Meyer, NBC Universal Vice Chairman, denied the rumors by saying that the next film will not have Walker on it. He said that Paul will not be in the film as a performer or as an actor the way they did in “Fast & Furious 7.” He said that it will still be “Fast & Furious” but without Paul, notes Australia Network News in another report.