Far Out Facts: Everything we know so far about ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’
The second trailer for Furiosa, the all-action, female-led spin-off from Mad Max: Fury Road, has been released recently. In it, we see the film revealed as an archetypal origin story, explaining the raison d’etre behind Imperator Furiosa, Mad Max’s metal-armed ally against Immortan Joe.
There’s an obvious allusion to the Biblical story of the forbidden fruit, as the child Furiosa picks a ripe apple from a part of the Green Place of her birth while a voice tells her she’s “gone too far”. Moments later, she’s being driven away across the Wasteland of the previous film by a Biker Horde.
This trailer previews on screen for the first time the backstory Charlize Theron revealed in an interview in 2015 about playing Imperator Furiosa in Fury Road. Theron explained that series creator George Miller had already written the script for the upcoming Furiosa movie by that point, which she used as the basis for researching her character.
Meanwhile, we hear Junkie XL’s score for the new film teased with a snippet of classic rock reimagined. Following his interpretation of Dire Straits’ ‘Brothers in Arms’ for Fury Road, he now turns his epic-orchestral big-beat hand to petrol-punking the David Bowie classic ‘The Man Who Sold the World’.
Although this trailer has given us a lot of insight into the new Mad Max movie, there’ll still be plenty of surprises upon its release in May. And there are some things we already knew. So, let’s summarise everything we know so far about Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga by answering your most search questions.
How does this movie fit into the Mad Max film series?
This latest episode in the broader Mad Max saga directly relates to the events of the franchise’s previous film, Mad Max: Fury Road. The character Furiosa is introduced in that film as a member of Immortan Joe’s army, who heroically turns against him and allies herself with Max.
But rather than have Furiosa as a sideshow to ‘Mad Max’ Rockatansky, this film centres on Furiosa herself. It charts her own travails through the Wasteland battling evil warlord Dementus.
Furiosa’s mother also plays a prominent role in the film’s latest trailer as she embarks on a quest to get her daughter back. It is spelt out to us that the apparently tragic outcome of this quest, in turn, fuels Furiosa’s own all-action pursuit of vengeance, retribution and justice in her adult life.
So, is the film effectively a Fury Road 2?
No. It’s important to emphasise that the events in Furiosa take place before those of Fury Road. It provides context to the characterisation of Imperator Furiosa in that movie while establishing her as a singular hero in her own right.
What’s more, George Miller developed Fury Road as “almost a continuous chase” across the Wasteland – explosive, breathtaking action but not much else. Furiosa is very much conceived as a blend of action sequences and emotional gravitas, which especially comes across in the newly released second trailer.
Is ‘Mad Max’ Rockatansky himself in Furiosa?
Despite his punch-packing performance in Fury Road, Tom Hardy doesn’t make so much as a cameo appearance as the eponymous hero of the Mad Max franchise in Furiosa. That’s not because the character or actor has been dropped.
In fact, a further film, Mad Max: The Wasteland, still appears to be in the works. The original Mad Max character, revived by Hardy from Mel Gibson’s initial incarnations, will be very much front-and-centre in that picture.
However, George Miller seems to have made the decision from the very beginning that if he’s turning his pre-existing Furiosa screenplay into a film, he’s doing it all about her. There’s no room for Max in this one.
Which of the Mad Max: Fury Road cast feature in Furiosa?
Nathan Jones and Angus Sampson return in Furiosa, reprising their roles as Rictus Erectus and The Organic Mechanic from Mad Max: Fury Road.
Villain Immortan Joe also returns, but this time played by Lachy Hulme. Hugh Keays-Byrne, who played Joe in Fury Road as well as playing Toecutter in the original Mad Max film way back in 1979, passed away in 2020.
Who is Anya Taylor-Joy, the star of Furiosa?
Charlize Theron received mass acclaim for her portrayal of Imperator Furiosa in Fury Road, yet George Miller hasn’t called her back this time around. He wanted a younger actor to play Furiosa in her adolescence and young adulthood rather than relying on de-ageing special effects.
So Anya Taylor-Joy, one of Hollywood’s outstanding young talents of recent years, has stepped in to take on the role. Best-known for the role that launched her to stardom in Netflix’s chess-themed drama The Queen’s Gambit, Taylor-Joy shone in Mark Mylod’s 2022 satire The Menu and recently cameoed in Dune: Part Two.
It was another performance that caught the attention of George Miller, though. Taylor-Joy’s turn as Sandie in the horror film Last Night in Soho convinced him he’d found his Furiosa.
What role does Chris Hemsworth play in Furiosa?
Chris Hemsworth looks especially menacing in Furiosa’s second trailer as the film’s chief villain, warlord Dementus. He appears to be stretching himself beyond the cardboard cut-out superhero roles for which he’s come to be known, chewing the scenery and the kind of maniacal humour that earned Heath Ledger an Oscar.
No wonder, then, that he called the movie his favourite filming experience to date and the performance he’s most proud of. Dementus seems to be among the maddest and baddest Mad Max characters of all time. And Hemsworth must have had a ball playing him.
Which Mad Max cars show up in Furiosa?
The character Furiosa gets kitted out with some brand-new wheels for this movie. There’s the 1932 Ford five-door coupe that briefly appears in the first trailer, as well as an S-Series Chrysler Valiant originally produced in Australia.
Other typical Mad Max vehicles making their first appearance in the franchise are Dementus’ bull-barred six-wheel monster truck and desert chariot driven by motorbikes. Then there’s Immortan Joe’s infamous gigantic, drill-ended War Rig.
How many Mad Max movies are there now?
Furiosa is the fifth instalment of the Mad Max film franchise in total. The previous Mad Max movies, in order, are Mad Max (1979), Mad Max 2 (1981), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), and 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road.
The latter film sat in movie purgatory for at least 15 years before finally going into production. By that point, George Miller decided Mel Gibson could no longer play the main character, and into those massive shoes stepped Tom Hardy.
With Mad Max: The Wasteland likely to be released in the coming years, Furiosa almost certainly won’t be the last of the franchise.
Where to watch Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga?
After its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15th, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will be released exclusively in cinemas. It comes out in its home country, Australia, on May 23rd before worldwide release on May 24th, 2023.
Both of its trailers include a banner at the end pushing viewers to “experience it in IMAX”. The film is very much on the side of campaigning to protect cinemas as the natural home of big-screen motion pictures.
And given its panoramic cinematography and lush colour palette, its creators have a point. Viewing it on anything smaller just wouldn’t be the same.