Fast & Furious 9 Director Explains Easter Egg Referencing Paul Walker's Brian in First Trailer

Director Justin Lin explains why the first Fast & Furious 9 trailer incorporates a new version of "See You Again," the song used to send off Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner from the franchise after Walker died in a car crash in 2013. The full version of the song, performed by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth, closes out 2015's Furious 7 when Brian and brother-in-law Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) part ways, signaling Brian's retirement from the fast life. An instrumental version of the song opens the F9 trailer, which shows Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) settled into domestic life with Dom's son, Brian, whose mother (Elena, played by Elsa Pataky) was killed in The Fate of the Furious.

"It was important because as the Fast family we take a lot of pride in the journey," Lin told EW when asked to explain why it felt right to bring back the song in a new form. "In front of the camera you're seeing our characters age, and behind the camera we're all growing together, we started families, all of our kids are growing up together."

"And so I really thought it was important to acknowledge that with Dom, Letty, and little Brian," Lin continued. "And to be able to acknowledge that in a big action franchise, I thought it was important to connect that to other pieces of the family."

The Fast family gets bigger when Han (Sung Kang), long believed dead, rejoins Dom's crew in the penultimate episode of the Fast Saga. Also along for the ride is franchise newcomer John Cena as Jakob, the never-mentioned brother of Dom and Mia (Jordana Brewster), making F9 a family affair: unlike his siblings, Jakob is on the other side of the law and working under cyberterrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron).

Fast & Furious emphasizes family — and families that aren't always defined by blood — and "a lot of the theme of family kind of reflects my immigrant story," said Lin.

"I feel like my 10-year-old son growing up, he's got Uncle Vin, Uncle Sung, and it's not by blood. I feel like our family is truly this earned relationship," Lin explained. "But at the same time, it's one thing we have not explored through bloodline. And Michael Rooker, who is in this movie, said it best when he came and we were talking about the film, he said some of the bloodiest fights he's seen in his life were either at funerals or weddings. And that's something that really excited me when the idea came to me, that we could really start this new chapter exploring family through the traditional bloodlines."

He continued, "But then the next emotional beat for me was that I was kind of scared s—less of like, 'Well, who is going to be a Toretto?!' And I was so relieved when I sat down with John, and within a minute of talking to him you could feel the strength and discipline, but also the fact that he could be vulnerable. He was just a pleasure to work with, and I really do think he's going to bring a lot as the antagonist to Dom."

F9 opens May 22.