(Updated 12/01/2023)
In 2015, George Miller’s movie MAD MAX: FURY ROAD came roaring out of the wasteland to become a global sensation. It’s one of the best action movies ever made, and a mind-blowing continuation of the Mad Max story begun by Miller in 1979.
Now Miller is finishing his new movie, which is a prequel to and spin-off from FURY ROAD. FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA will detail the formative years of the warrior woman played by Charlize Theron in FURY ROAD. Because we’re seeing a younger version of Furiosa this time, there’s a new star in the role, and a whole new cast surrounding her.
Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Furiosa, and we have every reason to expect that this movie will deliver the same sort of eye-opening action that we saw in Miller’s last Mad Max movie. Here's everything we know about FURIOSA so far, including the roaring first trailer.
Furiosa: What's the Release Date?
Warner Bros. Pictures will release the new Mad Max 5 movie FURIOSA in movie theatres on May 24, 2024. It will have been just over nine years since the release of FURY ROAD at that point. It's been a long wait, but the wait will have been worth it.
Watch the First Furiosa Trailer
This first FURIOSA trailer is everything we could have wanted. Visually, it looks like "more FURY ROAD," which is great because we've wanted more FURY ROAD since the credits rolled on that movie in 2015. The cast looks great, Chris Hemsworth's prosthetic nose is very entertaining, and the action is just as over-the-top and meticulously constructed as we could have hoped for.
And while this does look like a direct continuation of the previous movie we expect that the trailer moments are all cherry-picked to make audiences feel like they know what to expect. FURY ROAD surprised us constantly and it's fair to expect FURIOSA to do the same.
One fun point about this trailer, too: The FURIOSA script has been around since George Miller was assembling FURY ROAD. In fact, the last scene of the trailer, with Furiosa pulling down her mask, is part of a scene that was used to audition actors for FURY ROAD. That's according to Kyle Buchanan, who wrote the book on that film.
What Is Furiosa About?
Here's a solid story outline via the plot synopsis:
As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.
We expect that some fundamental questions about the character Furiosa will be answered — "how did Furiosa lose her arm", for example. But George Miller has never been a filmmaker who wants to stick to stories that are basic or expected. And Furiosa is an interesting character because of what she does in any given moment — so we'd guess that whatever Miller has cooked up for this movie, a lot of it will be surprising to even the biggest FURY ROAD fan.
Is Mad Max in Furiosa?
We do not expect to see Max Rockatansky, aka Mad Max, in FURIOSA. The story is set years before he and Furiosa ever crossed paths.
When Does Furiosa Take Place?
The MAD MAX movies aren't very concerned with presenting a coherent timeline. The original, filmed in the late 1970s, was loosely set in the mid-1980s. Each subsequent movie is more tenuously connected to a timeline.
MAD MAX 2, a.k.a. THE ROAD WARRIOR, presents a more fully apocalyptic world. The movie isn't too specific about the timeline, but it is set a few years after the original movie. The third movie, MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME, is loosely set about 15 years later, in the early 2000s. At some point there is a full nuclear apocalypse. Whether it happens after the first movie or at another point is debatable, depending on whether you rely only on the movies or on supplemental media such as novelizations and comic books.
FURY ROAD seems to be set after THUNDERDOME, but Max looks younger than he did in the preceding movie. Other indicators directly contradict some of the timeline markers from earlier movies.
So what does that mean for FURIOSA? The trailer says that Furiosa is captured "45 years after the collapse," which is pretty specific! Except that we don't know precisely when the collapse occurs. In FURY ROAD, Max gets a tattoo that says "day 12,045" since… well, we're not sure what. That's 33 years, but is it 33 years into Immortan Joe's reign? The new movie might specify, but then again, it might not!
The Furiosa Crew
We've mentioned that George Miller directed FURIOSA, which filmed in 2022. He also co-wrote the movie, with his FURY ROAD partner Nico Lathouris. A few other key players from the FURY ROAD production are here, too: film editor Margaret Sixel, production designer Colin Gibson, costume designer Jenny Beavan, sound mixer Ben Osmo, makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt, and score composer Tom Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL).
Simon Duggan (THE GREAT GATSBY) is the cinematographer, taking over from John Seale. Miller had to coax Seale out of retirement to film FURY ROAD, which went into production in 2012. As Seale is now 80, it's no real surprise that he decided not to sign on for another demanding desert production.
Furiosa: Who's in the Cast?
Anya Taylor-Joy, who quickly rose to fame thanks to THE WITCH and "The Queen's Gambit," stars as a young Imperator Furiosa.
Alongside the star are Chris Hemsworth, as the villain, the Warlord Dementus. He kidnaps Furiosa as a child, and ultimately delivers her to the Citadel run by Immortan Joe. The late Hugh Keays-Byrne, who died in 2020, played Immortan Joe in FURY ROAD, and we do expect to see the character in this movie, but played by a new actor who is unknown at this time.
Nathan Jones and Angus Sampson reprise their FURY ROAD roles, as Rictus Erectus and the Organic Mechanic, respectively. Tom Burke ("War & Peace," "The Musketeer") has a role, and the cast also features Alyla Browne, Daniel Webber, and Lachy Hulme. Quaden Bayles, who appeared in Miller's previous movie, THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING, will also appear.
FURIOSA opens in May.
All images courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures.