Michael Rooker of The Walking Dead is joining Fast and Furious 9

Michael Rooker, best known in the Walking Dead series as Merle Dixon, is joining the Fast and Furious World. The 9th installment is set to release in May of 2020.

Michael Rooker is known in The Walking Dead world as Merle Dixon, the unlovable half of the Dixon Brothers. Now Rooker is joining the Fast and Furious franchise in the ninth installment, set to release in May of 2020.

He will play the role of Buddy in a last minute addition to the cast. No other information has been released on this character. Given Rooker’s usual roles he will probably be a henchmen or something along that line. He will join the likes of Vin Diesel, Charlize Theron, John Cena and Helen Mirren, to name a few. Fast and Furious 9 is directed by Justin Lin with a script written by Daniel Casey.

Rooker is very well know for his portrayal of Yondu in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. He played the blue faced scavenger opposite Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill. He quickly became a fan favorite in the Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2.  Fans flock to meet him at all of the cons he attends.

In The Walking Dead world he played the brother of Daryl Dixon, a fan favorite. Merle Dixon, a character made for the series, was a racist, redneck who along with his brother Daryl where made for this new world. Growing up they had an awful childhood and basically did whatever they had to do to get by. Survival was second nature to them. No one in Rick’s group wanted Merle to be in their group except Daryl. In the end, in a surprise move by Merle, he redeems himself.

Rooker has been very busy with upcoming roles in Fantasy Island, a horror adaptation of the popular series Monster Problems from the 70’s and 80s which follows a young man living in a post apocalyptic world overrun by monsters, and Amazon’s The Dark Tower pilot, which is an adaptation of Stephen King’s book. We will be seeing a lot of Rooker in these upcoming projects as well Fast and Furious 9.