Vin Diesel Teases a Possible 'Furious 8' Coming

By Steve Lervolino

On Monday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Furious 7 star Vin Diesel promoted the seventh movie in the franchise — and hinted that despite some rumors to the contrary, an eighth Fast and the Furious movie is in the offing.

In the same way they teased Jason Statham’s character at the end of Fast 6, only to have him emerge as the main heavy in the follow-up, Diesel explains series newcomer Kurt Russell plays a character who has a much bigger role in an upcoming adventure.

“You know I always think of these films multiple pictures in advance, I think of them as trilogies,” the actor explained, saying of Russell, “We really hired him because of a story that follows us, that takes place in New York.”

Diesel, 47, called it part of some “cool secret things” that are in the offing.

Speaking of follow-ups, Diesel also hinted he’s in for another XXX movie, and explained to Kimmel that fans can thank Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg.

Diesel starred as extreme athlete-turned spy Xander Cage in the 2002 original, only to be replaced, improbably, by Ice Cube in the far less successful 2005 sequel XXX: State of the Union. In that film, Diesel’s character was said to have been killed on a mission, although a DVD extra featuring Diesel’s stunt double, shot from behind, purported to show Cage killed in an exploding building.

However, the rumors of his demise have apparently been greatly exaggerated.

Diesel explained he took a meeting with Zuckerberg, who the actor claims did some work on his Facebook page: “I said I wanted to take some of the spam off my page,” the actor said of the billionaire, to which Kimmel replied, “You treated him like an IT guy, basically.” “Basically,” Diesel laughed.

The actor said Zuckerberg told him, “I want another XXX,” which got the star thinking. “So I was like, ‘Hmm, another XXX…’” the actor mugged, as the crowd cheered approvingly.

Furious 7 opens nationwide this Friday.