The time to return has come. Filming starts December in the Philippines. Diesel announced on his Instagram account that UFC fighter Conor McGregor was cast in a role and Facebook that Jackson will be reprising his role as Gibbons. On January 1, 2016, Twitch reported that Tony Jaa, Jet Li and Deepika Padukone were cast in roles. The following week, Nina Dobrev and Ruby Rose were also cast. Dobrev would be playing a witty and sarcastic techie, while Padukone will play a huntress who happens to be Cage’s former lover. Rose will play a sniper. Andrey Ivchenko was confirmed to be another villain in the film as one of the big bads Diesel is set to lock horns with, given that earlier reports revealed Li also joined the threequel as a potential adversary. It started filming later in January 2016 and with schedules in Canada in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, as well as the Dominican Republic and the Philippines.
It was rumored that Ice Cube, who played the protagonist Darius Stone in the second film, would reprise his role but has yet to be confirmed. On February 6, 2016, the director revealed on his Twitter account that Kris Wu had joined the cast, he also added that Wu would be playing a vital character. On February 12, 2016, reports brought in the news that Jet Li dropped out of the film and was replaced with Donnie Yen in the role of the main antagonist, Xiang.
On March 18, it was announced that Conor McGregor had dropped out of his planned appearance, to focus on training and the UFC. Brett Okamoto announced via Twitter, "As I mentioned on @SportsCenter, I'm told McGregor has canceled his planned appearance in Vin Diesel's XXX film. Doesn't want distraction." On June 3 2016, it was revealed that Brazilian footballer Neymar joined the film's cast.
