It’s been nearly eight years since a tragic car accident cut Paul Walker’s life at 40 years. The Fast and the Furious star was survived by his daughter Meadow Walker, who is currently 22 years old, along with the global Fast family. Earlier this month marked what would have been the late actor’s 48th birthday, and along with messages remembering him, Jordana Brewster has opened up about grieving the loss of her onscreen husband year after year.
Jordana Brewster and Paul Walker had been working together since the Fast and Furious franchise started back in 2001. Brewster’s character, Mia Toretto, subsequently appeared in 2009’s Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7 alongside Walker until his fatal accident in 2013. He was in the middle of filming the seventh Fast movie when died, and his brothers Caleb and Cody stepped up to fill in the gaps in production. When speaking to People, Brewster shared some words about losing the beloved actor following his recent birthday:
I think when someone passes away that has a huge impact on your life and has had a huge impact, frankly, on so many people's lives. It just gets very intense and then sometimes it's less intense. But it just comes in waves, regardless of whether it's that person's birthday or not.
Paul Walker sounds like he’s never too far away from the Fast family’s thoughts years after the accident. The actor was a core part of the franchise and a memorable personality on set. Jordana Brewster continued to share how she grieves his death with these words:
Every year, I have a way of honoring him on his birthday and remembering him and celebrating him. And I think that's also part of what's nice about when the cast is together is that we do honor and celebrate him as well.
Mia Toretto skipped out on The Fate of the Furious and the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff, but recently returned for F9: The Fast Saga. Paul Walker’s character of Brian O’Connor is still very much alive in the movies following the send-off he was given Furious 7, often making for some difficult writing work arounds for the creatives. Walker is a difficult subject for Brewster, calling her process “visceral at times,” but thankfully she has her co-stars at her side to be with her for some of those difficult moments.
Following the huge commercial success of F9, the cast will return to set at the beginning of 2022 for the tenth installment, set to come out in April 2023. The F9 director’s cut was recently released, which involves more Mia Toretto. And despite Paul Walker’s passing, the actor lives on through his film projects and continued legacy.
