A teary Vin Diesel confirms Fate of the Furious is the beginning of a new trilo...

Actor Vin Diesel says the eighth installment of the Fast and Furious saga will kick-start a new trilogy.

Choking back tears on Wednesday as he paid an emotional tribute to his dead The Fast and the Furious co-star Paul Walker at the CinemaCon convention, Diesel, now a producer as well as star, confirmed a previous announcement that the series would extend to at least a tenth movie.

“As the world sees this movie, they’ll see how it’s the beginning of a new trilogy,” he said. “One of the things we’re so proud of with this chapter is how much we defied expectations.”

“As the world sees this movie, they’ll see how it’s the beginning of a new trilogy.”

The 49-year-old revealed it was Walker who insisted there should be an eighth instalment in the $3.9 billion franchise, as he introduced “The Fate of the Furious” at the gathering in Las Vegas.

“Part of Paul’s legacy lives through every frame that we shoot... You are reminded of this angel that was so integral to this concept of brotherhood for our millennium,” Diesel said, fighting his emotions.

“There’s something beautiful about that. There’s something celebratory about that... I always feel like he’s looking down on us, so we didn’t want to let him down.”

Walker was 40 when he died in a fiery single-vehicle crash in California in 2013, before the seventh film was released.

Tyrese Gibson, who has been in the high-octane franchise since 2 Fast, 2 Furious (2003), echoed Diesel’s tribute.

“The last time I was on this stage we were here with Paul Walker. We move and operate in the memory of Paul Walker,” he told the crowd at the Caesar’s Palace hotel.

The Fate of the Furious is due to release on April 14 in the US.

Directed by F Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton), it sees the return of Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson. Meanwhile, Charlize Theron, Helen Mirren and Scott Eastwood are among the new additions.