Last month, we reported that Josh Duhamel, who played William Lennox in the first three Transformers movies, would reprise his role for Transformers: The Last Knight. This led to his Transformers co-star, Tyrese Gibson, posting on Instagram that he also wanted back in on the giant robot smashing fun.
According to ET, it looks like Gibson has gotten his wish. ET caught up with the actor at the BET Awards and said, "Let's just say 2017, summertime, it's going to be a lot of energy out there in the universe: Fast 8, Transformers 5.” So it sounds like Gibson will once again be playing an inconsequential human character in a Transformers movie.
At least in the Fast & Furious series, he gets to have a real role and does an admirable job as the comic relief in those pictures. ET asked him what it was like making his first Fast & Furious movie without Paul Walker, and Gibson replied, "It's not easy moving forward without [Walker], and we feel his energy every day," he shares of the late actor. "His trailer used to be parked next to mine. So, every time I step out of my trailer, it's always rough."
As to whether or not Fast 8 will pay some form of tribute to Walker, Gibson would only say, “there will be some real energy and some presence felt.” An ambiguous statement if there ever was one. Personally, I think Walker got his perfect send off in Furious 7, so there’s no real need to revisit the loss of his character in Fast 8. It’s time for the series to move on. Walker will never be forgotten, but the series has to learn to exist without him.
Transformers: The Last Knight opens June 23, 2017, and also stars Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Hopkins. Fast & Furious 8 opens April 14, 2017, and also stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Elsa Pataky, Nathalie Emmanuel, Lucas Black, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Kurt Russell, Scott Eastwood, Kristofer Hivju, Helen Mirren, and Charlize Theron.
