Now that we’ve had a few days to allow the tragic death of Paul Walker to sink in, much of the attention is shifting toward the production of Fast & Furious 7 and how they will deal with the loss of a major star. Although the movie was more than half finished, there were several key scenes featuring Walker that had yet to be shot. Production has been officially shut down as the studio and director James Wan evaluate their options, a few of which include using special effects to put Walker’s face on another actor’s body or simply scrapping the entire film and starting over again without his character. In the meantime, Universal Pictures has released the following statement:

“Right now, all of us at Universal are dedicated to providing support to Paul’s immediate family and our extended Fast & Furious family of cast, crew and filmmakers… At this time we feel it is our responsibility to shut down production on Fast & Furious 7 for a period of time so we can assess all options available to move forward with the franchise. We are committed to keeping Fast & Furious fans informed, and we will provide further information to them when we have it. Until then, we know they join us in mourning the passing of our dear friend Paul Walker.”

Although one might assume that it would be far too costly for them to completely start over again, movie studios are insured for situations such as this. The extra cost is not an issue for Universal. What is a much bigger concern is preserving the integrity of the franchise and ensuring that it can continue on. At the moment, digital face replacement technology is something they want to avoid if possible.

On the other hand, rewriting the film to cut out Walker’s character completely could also seem disrespectful to fans hoping for one last hurrah. Using at least some of the existing footage would probably be their ideal scenario, but it’s unclear if that would make sense for the story. Either way, the movie is still scheduled for release on July 11th, 2014 and they are not budging on that just yet. How do you think they should handle Paul Walker’s death in Fast & Furious 7? Check out a video tribute to Paul Walker released by the production team below.