1. When Paul Walker died in November 2013, halfway through filming on Furious 7, the filmmakers decided his character, Brian O’Conner, would live on.
The last time audiences saw Brian, he was literally driving off into the sunset at the end of the 2015 film. “We took a lot of care in crafting that last end sequence,” director James Wan told BuzzFeed News.
2. So, since Brian is still very much alive in this action-heavy cinematic universe, many were wondering how The Fate of the Furious would handle the character’s absence.
4. The first time comes about halfway through the film, when Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) insists the crew leave him out of their latest high-stakes drama. It’s a quick, cough-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.
5. But there’s no mistaking the second time Brian’s name comes up.
No matter how loudly you were sobbing.
6. The plot of Fate of the Furious is that Dom (Vin Diesel) has betrayed the team and paired up with cyberterrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron), who is always one step ahead of them. And it’s revealed that’s because she kidnapped his infant son — a child Dom never knew existed!
Apparently at some point while he thought Letty was dead, Dom and Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky) had sex and before she could tell him she was pregnant with his baby, Elena was kidnapped. In Fate of the Furious, Dom is reunited with Elena and is introduced to their son aboard Cipher’s enormous plane, where she’s been holding Elena and the baby captive in a seriously high-tech cell. And because Elena believes a father should bestow a first name on his son, the baby doesn’t have a name yet.
7. As he always does, Dom triumphs over the bad guys and rescues his son from Cipher…
…although not before Cipher kills Elena.
8. And, as these films always do, The Fate of the Furious ends with the team celebrating their victory at a family dinner.
9. It’s while surrounded by his loved ones that Dom announces he’s named his son Brian!
10. It’s a beautiful moment that pays tribute to how Brian changed Dom’s life. And it also imitates Diesel’s real-life homage to Walker.
11. The actor named his daughter Pauline in March 2015 as a tribute to Walker.
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