EXCLUSIVE: Lucas Black, who starred in Fast & Furious 3: Tokyo Drift, is returning to reprise his Sean Boswell role in Fast & Furious 7. Black, most recently seen as Pee Wee Reese in the Jackie Robinson film 42, has signed a deal that calls for his character to become a regular in the series and he will be part of at least the next three installments of Universal Pictures’ most lucrative film franchise. Fast & Furious 7 will be released next July 11.

The next film will be directed by James Wan, who just helmed the scarily high grossing Insidious: Chapter 2. Scripted by Chris Morgan, the film stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Jason Statham and Djimon Honsou. Neal H. Moritz and Diesel are the producers. This franchise shows no sign of running out of gas: the last film gave Universal its biggest worldwide opening in studio history, and it is the third highest worldwide grossing film of the year after Iron Man 3 and Uni/Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me 2. ICM Partners reps Black.

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