'Dukes Of Hazzard' Star John Schneider For 'Furious 8' Role?

John Schneider, the former star of TV’s ‘Dukes of Hazzard’, has expressed a desire to be a part of the Fast & Furious franchise. Having previously been linked with a car racing film project with the late actor Paul Walker, he has said he would be “very interested” in joining the Furious cast.

The franchise’s ever-present star Vin Diesel confirmed the existence of plans for an eighth movie last week, with a release pencilled in for April 2017. Schneider, who played Bo Duke in the popular TV series, admitted a role for him “would make sense because ‘Dukes…’ really paved the way for films like Fast & Furious. I'd be very interested in joining the cast.”

Schneider, 55, was speaking to World Entertainment News Network (WENN) and added that he had come close to hiring Paul Walker for his video-on-demand project Collier & Co: Hot Pursuit a number of years ago when it was scheduled to be a conventional release before funding collapsed. Forced to finance it himself, he could no longer afford Walker.

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“We came close and I would have loved to have worked with Paul. There was some talk before the tragic event that claimed his life that I would be playing Paul's nemesis in a Fast & Furious movie. I would have been very interested. Everyone thought Paul and I should get together. The stunt co-ordinator on my film worked on the latest Fast & Furious film and he thought we'd get on well.”

Walker, of course, sadly died in a car crash in November 2013, halfway through shooting his parts for the seventh Fast & Furious movie. The project was finished with the co-operation of Walker’s brothers Cody and Caleb who completed his parts, and was released worldwide in April.

Furious 7 has been a rip-roaring success, currently still at the top of the box offices four weeks after its theatrical release. Even its soundtrack reached the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart a fortnight ago powered by the success of Wiz Khalifa’s ‘See You Again’, itself a global chart topper.

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