FacebookProduction on Fast & Furious 7 is about to shift back into high gear.
Shooting will resume on March 31 in Atlanta, Universal Pictures confirmed Tuesday to E! News, meaning the cast and crew will be heading back to work roughly four months after the shocking death of franchise star Paul Walker.
Walker had already shot a number of scenes for the film, his sixth appearance in the series (having not appeared in The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift), when he was killed in a car crash Nov. 30 at the age of 40. It's not known yet how the movie is going to handle saying goodbye to Walker's character, Brian O'Conner, but he will be in the film.
Meanwhile, Vin Diesel, who's been the de facto cast spokesman during the unfortunate hiatus, wrote on Facebook about getting back into F&F mode.
"The transition into that Dom state of mind has always been an interesting one...only this time there is added purpose, a collective goal to make this the best one in the series," the actor wrote. "P.s. The long awaited completion of Seven, begins..."
Asked in a Q&A with fans on Sunday what made the F&F franchise so successful,Michelle Rodriguez attributed the films' popularity to the relationships portrayed onscreen.
"The chemistry of the cast built the loyal fan base, and the fact that these characters live by their own code and answer one but each other creates a hero like admiration for a multicultural audience that usually has no heroes in Hollywood to relate to," she wrote. "The fast Franchise is an underdog Giant in Hollywood and I hope it paves a road for many Multicultural big [budget], quality productions in the future."
Fast & Furious 7 is due in theaters April 10, 2015. (E! Online and Universal Pictures are both members of the NBCUniversal family.)