"The Fate of the Furious" is one of the most highly anticipated movies of 2017. While you are waiting for the movie to be release, here are five important things you should know according to a report by Digital Trends.

Who's directing the movie?

At first, Vin Diesel teased that the original director Rob Cohen of the first "The Fast and the Furious" movie would helm the eighth installment of the series. However, during an interview on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" on Oct. 14, 2015, Diesel announced that it would be F. Gary Gray to helm "The Fate of the Furious." Gray will replace the previous director James Wan from "Furious 7."

Returning Characters

Returning actors to reprise their roles has been a tradition for the movie franchise. With that said, we can expect a lot of characters to return for this eighth installment including Vin Diesel as Dominic Torreto, Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz, Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pierce, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Tej Parker, Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw among others to grace the screen in "The Fate of the Furious."

New Characters

A set of new actors will also join the latest installment of the movie. Charlize Theron is set to play as Cipher, the main antagonist in the movie. This character has found a way to make Dominic torreto (Vin Diesel) turn against his family and friends. New comers also include Kristofer Hivju from "Game of Thrones" as Cipher's henchmen, Helen Mirren who will play an unidentified role and Scott Eastwood of "Gran Torino" as the protégé of Mr. Nobody's (Kurt Russel) black ops agent.

Non-returning Characters

The death of Paul Walker in 2013 gave his character Brian O'Conner, an emotional send-off during the final scene of "Furious 7." Although rumors has spread that the movie will use the same digital effects to bring him back on the eight film or have his role recast with his brother Cody taking the role, Producer Neil H. Moritz confirmed that the character will not be returning and had officially moved on. This meant that the character's wife, Mia Torreto (Jordana Brewster) is not expected to return in "The Fate of the Furious" as she has joined her husband in moving on from their adventures.

From Heist Stories to Espionage

The movie started out as having a street-racing theme, it shifted away from that theme in "Fast Five" and moved on to become heist stories in the following installments. This time around, the story is about espionage.

We hope these five things helped you brought up to speed of "The Fate of the Furious." The film will premiere in the U.S. on April 14, 2017. Are you excited for the next "Fast and the Furious" installment?