Racing fans you can relax now. Fast and Furious 7 is still going to be released. The seventh installment in the long-running action franchise originally had a Jul. 11, 2014 release date in the USA. But with the sudden and shocking death of franchise star Paul Walker on Nov. 30, the entire production was in doubt. A series of emergency meetings between Universal Studios executives and Director James Wan commenced shortly after Walker's passing. Eventually the studio and Wan decided to go on with the film though its script and release date would need to be modified. The new release date, Apr. 10, 2014 pushes the big budget film back nearly a year and likely increases the picture's price tag significantly.

Principal photography on Fast & Furious 7 commenced in September 2013. Many scenes had already been shot featuring Walker character Brian O'Conner. At the time of Walker's death the film was just days away from starting up production again in Atlanta. All of the scenes that were going to be filmed centered around O'Conner. Now it's expected that the character will be written out of the new film and killed off. The current footage featuring Walker will still be included in the final cut. It's not yet clear though how the reworked footage will fit into the movie. However the film editor works it out, expect Walker to get a proper sendoff. Without him, the series maybe would have never lasted 12 years.

Still, Fast & Furious 7 looks to be a real adrenaline filled movie. Instead of taking place directly after the events of Fast & Furious 6, the movie will be set after the events of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Dominic and the rest of the crew are back in the States enjoying their money and retirement when a new threat emerges. Ian Shaw, played by Jason Statham, is out for Dominic's blood after he killed his mercenary brother Owen. Things get a bit confusing because series regular Han (Sung Kang) is dead in the seventh film. He originally was killed off way back in 2006's Tokyo Drift when Han's car blows up after being hit. The newer films actually took place prior to Tokyo Drift.

Despite the weird, non-chronological order, the Fast films follow expect April 2015 to be an exciting month at the movies. After all no other current film franchise delivers the high-octane thrills like the Fast and Furious movies do.

Are you looking forward to Fast and Furious 7? Will the franchise be the same without Paul Walker? Let us know in the comments section below.