Vin Diesel said it felt like the late Paul Walker sent John Cena into the new Fast & Furious movie.

WWE star Cena joins the fast-paced action franchise for “Fast & Furious 9” and plays Diesel’s brother and arch-enemy on screen.

Walker, who was Diesel’s co-star in six Fast & Furious films, died in a car accident in 2013 at the age of 40.

A trailer for the new film, which was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, shows Diesel’s Dominic Toretto clashing with Cena’s Jacob at the behest of Charlize Theron’s character Cipher.

Diesel said: “Justin (Lin, the director) and I both have brothers and we all have brothers. And that interesting dynamic of brotherly love and how complex it can be sometimes makes for great storytelling.

“But I remember as we approached production, Justin talked about how harrowing it would be to actually have to cast a new Toretto, Toretto’s brother – there are so many different possibilities.

“And I remember John Cena coming to my cathedral shrine where I was meditating and training and starting to get into that cathedral state of mind.

“I remember John coming in and – call it crazy – but I remember feeling like Pablo, Paul Walker, sent him in.

“And I remember talking to Justin that night and saying, ‘My gut and my heart tell me this is what was meant to be.'”

Cena said: “I certainly did not overlook the responsibility and the opportunity. I get to reap the rewards of this family that laid the foundation and built the structure for the worldwide production of blockbusters.”

“And I’m invited in episode nine to share the last name Toretto as Don’s greatest opponent of all time, that’s not lost. And I think it has to start there, it has to start with respect.”

Diesel also talked about the return of fan-favorite character Han, played by Sung Kang, who was killed in a collision at the end of The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006).

He said: “This part is in many ways about fatherhood… and to really understand the meaning of fatherhood, we have to look at brotherhood.

“With Jakob we have a very interesting, fascinating and mysterious character who is a blood brother.

“The brotherhood of Dom and Han has a special meaning. If you go back to Los Bandoleros (a short video prequel to the first Fast & Furious movie, written and directed by Diesel), if you go back to Tokyo Drift, there was no brotherhood between Dom and Brian (played by Walker).

“Brian was a cop. Dom was obviously an outlaw. There was a brotherhood between Han and Dom, they were outlaws in Mexico. They were brothers.

“In creating this whole mythology, the presence of Jacob was beautifully balanced by the return of Han, the return of a brother who was a brother and was there when Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) got married so long ago in the Dominican Republic.

“There is a meaning and power in this mythology that only Sung Kang – Han – could bring into our mythology.”

– Fast & Furious 9 hits UK cinemas on July 8th.