George Miller’s next Mad Max film is a Furiosa prequel without Charlize Theron

If there is one thing the Mad Max franchise has shown the world, it’s that our current COVID-19 apocalypse is not nearly as fun. Instead of wielding guns, driving beach buggies, playing pyrotechnic guitars and shooting at each other, we’re stuck in our homes and told not to go outside. To be fair, it is possibly a franchise many of us wouldn’t have been thinking about with the first two movies coming out in the late 70s and early 80s. Thanks to 2015’s incredible Mad Max: Fury Road, that featured arguably the greatest chase sequence in cinematic history, it is a hot film properly that people are very excited about again and keen to see more of. Especially if it keeps the aforementioned flamethrower guitars and intense action sequences.

Director George Miller has been promising more of that turbo action with a Fury Road sequel titled Mad Max: The Wasteland. And while that movie seems to be takin a while to put together, it appears that Miller is also working on a spin-off that focuses on the real star of Fury Road, Charlize Theron’s Furiosa. Except only, it is going to be prequel movie about her origin and not star Theron at all.

Miller confirmed the news in a recent interview with the New York Times, revealing he’s working on a Furiosa prequel based on the script he and Fury Road co-writer Nick Lathouris put together years before Fury Road hit theatres. He revealed that Theron won’t reprise her Mad Max role, due to the character’s younger age required for the movie. Miller admits that he had considered CGI de-aging effects like those seen in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, but ultimately still feels the technology is not where it needs to be to pull this off convincingly.

For the longest time, I thought we could just use CG de-aging on Charlize, but I don’t think we’re nearly there yet. Despite the valiant attempts on ‘The Irishman,’ I think there’s still an uncanny valley. Everyone is on the verge of solving it, particular Japanese video-game designers, but there’s still a pretty wide valley, I believe.

Initial reports reveal that the director has auditioned several actors for the role, including Anya Joy-Taylor. Miller was hoping to begin production on this move next year but given how the world is unfolding at the moment, those plans could be up in the air. Or things could get worse and he could film the movie as a live-documentary instead when we finally start to embrace the apocalypse lifestyle.

Last Updated: May 15, 2020