Briefly: following the death of Paul Walker, Universal Pictures has been assessing production status of the Fast and Furious 7. Rumors on how the studio would proceed have ranged from scrapping the entire film to superimposing Walker’s face for the final performances.

Now the studio has released an official statement regarding the status of the film. Continue reading to find out where things currently stand.

Actor Paul Walker died in a car crash during a charity event over the Thanksgiving holiday. The actor was on break from filming the Fast and Furious 7. Filming was scheduled to resume in Atlanta this week after the break, but now Universal Pictures has no other choice but to delay the production. The studio says that the project will NOT be scrapped entirely.

Director James Wan and the studio attended a conference call on Sunday to see how much of the film would actually need rewrites. They also wanted to see how to proceed with the sequel that would be respectful to Walker’s death.

The Fast and Furious 6 mid-credits scene gave fans a revealing scene that actually took place during the events of Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. It also marked that the next film would take place after Tokyo Drift – the fourth, fifth, and sixth films took place before the third – thus ending the film’s somewhat weird chronology. Now filming for Fast and Furious 7 has begun, and the marketing for the movie is slowly revving up.

New set photos featuring muscle cars and a damaged large vehicle, along with minor plot details have been revealed via the film’s official twitter page. Additionally, a tweet has been sent out asking fans if they want to see another character make a return. Hit the jump to see them all.

The headline is no joke. Denzel Washington was offered a role in Fast & Furious 7 and its follow-up, but ended up turning it down. If this is the kind of talent that Universal is aiming for, the confirmed actor for the James Wan-directed film should be in or around the same tier. But don’t be surprised if it’s not.

Those who stuck around for the end of the Fast and Furious 6 (or Furious 6 as it was seen on its title card), saw that Jason Statham had killed a member of Dom Toretto’s crew and was seeking revenge on the rest for what they had done to his brother, Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), in the film.

Fast and Furious 6 races into theaters on May 24th, but it’s confirmed sequel, Fast and Furious 7, may lose yet another vital piece of the Fast and Furious franchise. After Justin Lin confirmed that he would not be able to direct the seventh installment – due to scheduling constraints – James Wan quickly became one of the frontrunners to helm the film. Now there is word that Dwayne Johnson may not be able to reprise his role because of scheduling conflicts of his own.

Speaking to Collider, Johnson said that his shooting schedule with Brett Ratner‘s Hercules film and the projected shooting date for Fast and Furious 7 clashes with each other in a way that will make him unable to reprise his role.