Fast And Furious 7’s Original Ending Could Have Changed The Franchise’s Trajectory

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The “Fast and Furious” crew faced an impossible situation when Paul Walker died in a tragic car accident in 2013, leaving them without one of the series’ key players. The stunning loss, which occurred while “Furious 7” was still in production, caused everyone to take a step back and figure out how to salvage the film. In addition to Walker’s brothers and staff at Wētā FX working together to finish his scenes, the third act was largely restructured to make up for his unfortunate absence. The ending of Furious 7 was a poignant and emotional ode to Walker that made everyone cry, as Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian traveled down different paths. I was curious to know what the original ending of the film would have looked like. Thanks to Barry Hertz’s book “Welcome to the Family: The Explosive Story Behind Fast & Furious, the Blockbuster That Rocked the World,” we know he was going to take Dom and Brian back to their roots.

According to Hertz, the initial ending of “Furious 7” would have seen the “Fast” team gain a well-deserved win at Neptune’s Net, also known as the Malibu seafood restaurant featured in the first film (via ComicBookMovie). Nobody, played by Kurt Russell, was going to give everyone congressional praise for their work in taking down Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) and recovering God’s Eye technology. Instead of returning her to the agency, Doom would stomp on her with his boot, citing her immense technological power as too great for anyone to use. What makes this ending interesting is that the destruction of the God’s Eye would have set a completely different path for future Fast and Furious sequels.

The Eye of God was first introduced in “Furious 7” as a Macguffin for the “Fast” crew to track down before it ended up in the wrong hands. Created by computer hacker Ramsay (Nathalie Emmanuel), the Eye of God game was an evolutionary step in mass surveillance technology. It has the ability to find anyone in the world within minutes, as long as they are caught on camera first. The technology was initially based on being a physical device, yet it could eventually be hacked if there was a skilled enough hacker in close proximity. This series has always played fast and loose with physics, so it makes sense that it would do so with literal plot devices as well.

After Mose Jakande (Djimon Hounsou) is defeated in the climax of “Furious 7,” God’s Eye inevitably ends up returning to Mr. Nobody’s hands. The agency goes on to use him in The Fate of the Furious in order to track down the rogue Doom, that is, before Cipher (Charlize Theron) steals him for herself. But its defeat placed the God Eye back under the agency’s control. “Fast It’s basically a big game of hot potato with surveillance technology.

As we can see, the Eye of God went from a side mission in “Furious 7” to a major player in the “Fast” sequel that followed. Going to say goodbye to Walker was definitely the right move Which The movie is in Which point in time, but it makes me wonder if there was anywhere else to retain some of the original ending intent. It showed that Dom had just him So He had too much patience with a device that almost led to the death of him and his friends, even if it was in the hands of the “right” people. From The Fate of the Furious onwards, God’s Eye keeps coming back to bite everyone in the ass. Dom was shocked when Tess told him this in “Fast X”, as he thought he was locked in a vault somewhere. Which is ironic considering that Dom, of all people, knows that the vault can be easily broken into.

Part of what I find great about the original ending to “Furious 7” is that it provides a sense of closure. Dom removes a dangerous player from the board, as well as refusing to exonerate the government by throwing him out of his car window. His actions are consistent with the DVD player hijacking street racer we’ve come to know and love. Even saying goodbye to Brian would have been a perfect ending. More than a decade later, the “Fast” franchise is in limbo after the commercial disappointment of “Fast X.” To make matters worse, Diesel wants to reunite Dom and Brian, likely with a CGI Walker, if “Fast 11” happens, and that’s very unsettling.

“Furious 7” is currently streaming on Peacock.