Recently there was a list of three directors bandied about to take over the 'Fast and Furious' franchise from director Justin Lin, who saw the series through its last four sequels. But it appears Universal chose none of the above to direct the follow up, as James Wan has been tapped to helm 'Fast and Furious 7.'

This news comes from Deadline, who have a statement from Lin (which seems to close the matter):

“I’m extremely proud to be part of the Fast franchise, it is an experience I will always treasure. It’s time for me to move on to other things and I’m thrilled that Universal and Neal have selected James Wan to lead the franchise into its new chapter.”

That sounds definitive. None of the previous mentioned directors sounded all that promising, but James Wan is also an outside-the-box choice. Word is he directed a pretty good chase scene in the mostly forgotten 2007 thriller 'Death Sentence,' so the man may be pretty good at delivering an action set piece, but Wan is best known for starting the 'Saw' franchise and his more recent horror movies 'Insidious' and this summer's upcoming 'The Conjuring.'

Though horror movies require a great deal of skill (horror usually succeeds because of tone), once a filmmaker establishes themselves as a horror director it's that much harder to leave the genre. This is a big break for Wan, but with Universal already gearing up to start on the next one, he's got his work cut out for him.

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