Fast and Furious 8 Release Date Delayed, Cast Update: Vin Diesel is Busy With xXx Remake

Sep 03, 2015 01:39 AM EDT

The release date of the highly-anticipated 8th installment of the successful Fast and Furious franchise has been rumored to be facing a delay following reports that one of its main casts, Vin Diesel, who plays the lead character Dominic Toreto, is busy doing a remake of his another smash hit, xXx

Diesel took to his Instagram account to post a picture confirming he would be in the Philippines as filming for the third installment of Triple X will start in December this year. He captioned the picture, "While I was filming 'xXx,' guys on set called me Air Diesel... The time to return has come. Filming starts December in the Philippines."

The next xXx will see Diesel reprising his role as Xander Cage, an extreme sports enthusiasts who was blackmailed by Agent Augustus Eugene Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) to become a government operative a.k.a. Agent Triple X. He first appeared in the franchise in 2002 and sat out the second picture in the series, 2005's xXx: State Of The Union, which starred Ice Cube starred, reported Deadline.

There is no confirmation on who will direct the next xXx movie as well as its cast, but the first installment was directed by Rob Cohen directed the first original 'xXx' while Lee Tamahori took the second. Both movies were produced by Revolution studios. xXx earned $142 million during its domestic release.

However, Ludacris said filming of Fast and Furious 8 will start next year. "We start shooting next year, and it comes out April of 2017 so far," he said in an interview with Access Hollywood.

Earlier, Orange is The New Black star and Australian actress Ruby Rose has confirmed she would have a role in the eighth installment of the hugely-successful movie franchise, Fast and Furious.

Speaking to OK! Magazine, said she could have had a shot with the Fast and Furious 7 but she was turned down because of her resemblance to the 21-year-old Justin Bieber. Apparently, the production staffs of Fast and Furious are not fans of controversial pop singer.

 Rose said, "My last audition before Orange was for Fast And Furious 7, but they didn't want me because one of the main guys said I looked like Justin Bieber!"

However, Rose has confirmed she is currently in talks with the production team of Fast and Furious 8 and hopefully, she passes the audition this time. She told the Today Show Australia in a separate interview, "It's so funny because now I'm in talks with that movie and I haven't mentioned to them that I know [they turned me down because I looked like Justin]."

Also, fans of the late Paul Walker (Brian O'Connor) stated at a forum in IMDb that his brother, Cody, should make a comeback in Fast and Furious 8. Fans are clamoring to give Cody a role as the brother of Brian or perhaps his son along Paul's daughter Meadow.

Fast and Furious 8 is scheduled for release on April 14, 2017.