The much-awaited prequel to 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road is almost here. The latest poster drop of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has sparked buzz around Anya Taylor Joy leading as the younger version of Imperator Furiosa, formerly played by Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron. While the stakes are high, director George Miller had expressed his confidence in the 27-year-old actress’s flair.
The latest poster features Joy’s young but deadly Furiosa overlooked by Chris Hemsworth’s Warlord of Dementus and a pack of bikers, the Biker Horde, against a fiery and deserted backdrop. “Fury is born” read alongside the movie’s title in the poster. The fifth installment of the Mad Max franchise, Furiosa is set to hit theatres on May 24, 2023.
Here’s everything we know about Warner Bros.’ Furiosa: Mad Max Saga
Who is in the cast of Furiosa?
Warner Bros. announced that Anya Taylor-Joy would be starring as Furiosa in the fifth installment of the Max Max franchise, in October 2020. There’s an interesting story behind The Queen’s Gambit star landing the iconic action role.
Miller had seen a cut of 2021’s Last Night in Soho after which he was impressed by Taylor-Joy’s performance. He went straight to director Edgar Wright to gather his insight on an idea. “I said, ‘Gee, she’d be good for…,’” Miller recalled. Before he could finish the sentence, Wright chimed in with his agreement. “Do it, do it. She’s great,” he said, per The Hollywood Reporter. 
Furthermore, the Australian filmmaker spoke at CinemaCon on Monday and shared his experience working with Anya. “There’s something mystical about her, and yet, there’s an accessibility. I learned that she was somebody who is very, very disciplined, even though she’s very young. She was a ballet dancer. [Charlize Theron] was a ballet dancer…So all of that led to Anya being in Furiosa,” Miller noted.
Marvel star Chris Hemsworth takes on as the leader of Biker Horde, Warlord of Dementus. He is the central nemesis of Furiosa’s storyline. Miller had not ideated Hemsworth to be in the plot but once he got an hint of the actor’s versatility, Miller was all in for it.
Likewise, the Mad Max director had high praise for the Australian actor. He revealed to the audience at CinemaCon, “I knew the character but I never thought of Chris until we met and we talked, and I realized he was somebody with a lot more dimensions to him that I had initially thought. I mean, for me, he is, as they say in Australia, the complete article. He’s somebody who in every way is exemplary. He responded very well to the material.”
Other cast members include Nathan Jones as Rictus Erectus, Tom Burke as Dementus, Xanthia Marinelli as Treadmill Rat/Vuvalini, and Alyla Browne as young Furiosa, among others.
Why did Charlize Theron not reprise as Furiosa?
Charlize Theron’s Furiosa was the central character of 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road. Soon after the movie became a blockbuster hit, Miller teased on social media that the Mad Max franchise would explore more of Furiosa’s plotline. News surfaced that there will be two new instalments to the Mad Max franchises: Mad Max: The Wasteland and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The latter was plotted to focus on the origin story of Charlize Theron’s Furiosa. The director had planned to star Theron as her younger self in the prequel by using de-aging VFX technology.
However, after watching Martin Scorsese’s 2019 film, The Irishman, George Miller was not impressed by the technology’s effects and instead went for a younger actress.
After the Atomic Blonde star learned that she had been let go from the character, Theron was quite disheartened. "Yeah, it's a little heartbreaking, for sure. I really love that character, and I'm so grateful that I had a small part in creating her. She will forever be someone I think of and reflect on fondly,” Theron told The Hollywood Reporter in 2020. Nevertheless, she had massive respect for Anya Taylor Joy taking up her role to evolve Furiosa into someone more powerful.
AdvertisementFuriosa: Director, Trailers, Plot and Film Location
The entire Mad Max franchise is George Miller’s baby. He and producer Byron Kennedy started with the original film, Mad Max in 1979. Three sequels followed it, 1981’s Mad Max, 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderstorm, and 2015’s Fury Road. Unlike his war-torn dystopian franchise, Miller also director 2006’s Happy Feet.
An initial trailer made its way to Mad Max fans in November 2023 followed by a recent trailer drop in March 2024 that offered raging glimpses of Joy’s Furiosa. The movie is set to release on May 24, 2024.
Theron’s Furiosa served as the war captain to Immorton Joe in Fury Road. However, the 2024 prequel will explore the character’s origin story spanning over years of Furiosa’s life. "The one thing I can say about it, Fury Road ... within the film, happened over three days and two nights. This is a saga, happens over many years. So, there's a lot of different elements to it,” Miller hinted at a 2021 press conference. As per the plot, Furiosa was snatched from her homeland and taken into the realms of Hemsworth’s Warlord of Dementus. Owing to a promise made to her mother, Furiosa finds her way back home while fighting several battles of her own.
The fifth installment of the Mad Max franchise was filmed in Australia. It was marked as the “biggest ever film to be made in Australia” by New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian on X. The film project reportedly brought in $350 million to the nation’s economy and bolstered 850 local jobs.
ALSO READ: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga New Trailer; Anya Taylor-Joy’s Warrior Battles Against Chris Hemsworth
AdvertisementncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sbXNpK2ipJyWe6S7zGicp6yVp8Gitc2mnKesX528rbjYsKaonF%2BbwrO1zqyYZpldoq6lecyar2arkZyubrHVnqmyrJieu6h51p5kpKafrHqirs6uq2asmJp6sb7EqqyepF2WuqqwjKecsGWgpMC1sdFmqZ6klZbApnmQa3Bsb2ln