Scott Eastwood has vowed to make his late friend Paul Walker proud after joining the cast of the next "Fast & Furious" sequel.
Clint Eastwood's actor son will play a trainee working under Kurt Russell's character Mr. Nobody in the highly-anticipated Fast 8, alongside another franchise newcomer, Charlize Theron, who has been tapped as the main villain.
Shortly after his involvement was announced on Monday (April 11), Scott took to Instagram.com to express his gratitude to director F. Gary Gray and producer Neal Moritz, revealing the role is a dream come true.
"It's hard to put into words how excited I am for the next Fast & Furious," he wrote in a lengthy post. "To me, the series is so much more than just a franchise. It's a legacy. These great actors who have been in it together for so long have become a family. I absolutely can't wait to join it."
The 30-year-old goes on to hail Kurt as "a total childhood hero of mine growing up", adding, "Very much looking forward to learning a thing or two from such an original and cool guy."
He then turned his attentions to tragic Paul, who shot to superstardom in 2001 when he featured alongside Vin Diesel in the first street car racing movie, titled The Fast and the Furious. He was killed in a fiery car crash in 2013, in the midst of filming Furious 7, which was subsequently dedicated to his memory.
"Paul was a close friend of mine," Scott explained. "We surfed together, traveled together, and he was a huge role model and influencing figure in my life when I was younger. He still is. He was an older brother to me. For me to be able to add to the F&F story, Paul's story, and the FAST family is like a dream come true."
He concluded the post by writing, "Gary Gray and Neal Moritz - I can't wait to get started and dive in. Vin - thank you for the support and the insight. Paul - I am going to make you proud."
Fast 8 will welcome back franchise stars Vin, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, and Ludacris. Production is expected to begin in May (16), ahead of an April, 2017 release.
The movie will be one of three final sequels for speed-loving fans of the film series. A ninth movie will hit theatres in April, 2019, followed by the grand finale in April, 2021. (MT/WNNOW/CM-CD)
