Vin Diesel says he feels like Paul Walker ‘sent’ John Cena to play his brother in F9

‘People might not get this or might think I’m crazy, but I felt like Paul Walker had sent him in to play Jakob’

Vin Diesel has opened up about feeling as though Paul Walker “sent” John Cena to play his on-screen brother Jakob Toretto in the just-released Fast & Furious 9.

Walker, who died in 2013 in a car accident at age 40, was an original star of the Fast & Furious franchise. He starred as Brian O'Conner until 2015’s Furious 7.

“I’m a multi-cultural actor, you could’ve picked anybody to be my brother,” Diesel said in an interview with NME.

“So there was a great moment of anxiety when it came time to think about who you would cast to be Jakob. And I was in my Dom shrine getting ready for the film, and getting into that Dom state of mind.

“And one morning John Cena walked in, and I don’t know – people might not get this or might think I’m crazy, but I felt like Paul Walker had sent him in to play Jakob. And I didn’t think about it anymore, I said, ‘That’s Jakob.’ And the rest is history.”

Of entering into the long running action franchise, Cena told NME about meeting Diesel for the first time: “For one reason or another, Vin wanted to get together and talk, and after a lengthy conversation, I got an invite to the Fast family. Of course it would be something I’d want to do, but the question is how would I even go about it?”

He added: “He never once said. I loved our time together… I was hanging out with Vin Diesel! It was really cool!”

Fast & Furious 9 is currently on track to break a box office record in the US following its debut. Variety reports that it is set to bring in $68m (£49m) over its opening weekend.

Fast & Furious 9 is in US and UK cinemas now.