Less than a week after Vin Diesel announced on Facebook that he was pushing for Rob Cohen to direct the next installment in the Fast & Furious series, we have word that a new director has been chosen and (surprise!) it is not Rob Cohen. It is, however, a director who has worked with Vin Diesel before: F. Gary Gray. Gray just directed one of the summer’s most unexpected hits in Straight Outta Compton and it has immediately made him a hot commodity in Hollywood. We are hearing that he is also under consideration to direct Black Panther for Marvel. Hit the jump for more details.

Yesterday Variety reported that the Furious 8 shortlist included the following filmmakers: F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton, Law Abiding Citizen), Adam Wingard (The Guest, You’re Next), Louis Leterrier (Clash of the Titans, Now You See Me) and Will Eubank (The Signal). A few hours later, THR followed up with the news that F. Gary Gray had entered into exclusive talks with Universal. Vin Diesel also posted a picture on Facebook that seemed to confirm that Gray was the choice.

While it would have been interesting to see Adam Wingard take on a movie of this size, Gray seems like the safe choice, especially given that he has directed Vin Diesel in A Man Apart and also helmed a movie in a similar vein with The Italian Job remake. Gray was also supposedly a frontrunner to direct Black Panther for Marvel, but it is possible that this gig might put him out of the running since both movies are scheduled for release in 2017. Do you think F. Gary Gray is the right choice for Furious 8 or would you have preferred to see Universal take a chance on someone else?