The Walking Dead's Merle Dixon Star Michael Rooker Joins The Cast Of Fast & Furious 9

Michael Rooker is shedding the blue paint and is ready to get machine oil all over himself after he joined the cast of Fast & Furious 9.

After making us cry, 'Mary Poppins', sorry Michael Rooker is joining the cast of another blockbuster franchise, Fast & Furious. Michael Rooker was just hired by Universal for the upcoming sequel to the hit movie 'Fate of the Furious', from the immensely successful Fast & Furious franchise, Fast & Furious 9.

Fast & Furious is already shooting with a release date already in place, so the role Michael is playing is a mystery except for the name of the character, 'Buddy'. The cast for the ninth installment in the F&F franchise currently includes Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Charlize Theron, John Cena, Ludacris, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Tyrese Gibson & Helen Mirren.

Source: Yahoo

Helen recently appeared in the hit Fast & Furious spin-off film Hobbs & Shaw starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. The spin-off was a point of contention for many of the F&F family, where the main cast criticized ‘The Rock’ for taking over the franchise and putting his needs over theirs. Reports also came out the actors of the series make sure no one is bested on screen, with the lead actors bringing their own people to make sure the actors don’t look overpowered by their co-stars. It was also because Rock and Vin did not see eye to eye, and it got to a point where they couldn’t even film a single scene together.

After the actor went off to make their own movie, John Cena was hired to play a role in the film, and the filming started for the film with the two favorite characters not making any kind of appearance.

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Daniel Casey wrote fast and Furious nine with Justin Lin coming back to direct for the first time since the sixth installment in the franchise. This will be the fifth F&F being directed by Justin Lin, and Vin Diesel is producing with his One Race Films, and Lin is also getting a producer’s credit with his Perfect Storm Entertainment.

Rooker is bringing a lot of experience with himself in the F&F franchise. One funny thing, Rooker and Diesel kind-of worked together in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Rooker played the blue alien 'Yondu', and Vin Diesel voiced the character of 'Groot', well, he only says three words in the entire film history, so take of it how you will.

Rooker also played in the critically acclaimed (once upon a time) series The Walking Dead as 'Merle'. He recently appeared in the James Gunn Produced film 'Brightburn' and also in a few episodes of the Mahershala Ali starrer HBO show True Detective which is currently in contention for nine Primetime Emmy Awards.

Michael Rooker is a seasoned director, so it will be interesting to see how well they utilize the actor and his talents when ‘Fast & Furious 9’ arrives in cinemas on 22 May 2020.