While Mad Max: Fury Road hit theaters in 2015, George Miller’s longtime collaborator and producing partner says Furiosa was a story “ready to be told” well before then.
The return of Mad Max to the big screen with 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road introduced audiences to Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa, the driver and warrior who Max aids in her quest for redemption and vengeance against Immortan Joe. Anya Taylor-Joy is set to take over the role in the 2024 prequel Furiosa, a film that, according to one producer, was a story ready to be told “15 years ago.”
Longtime George Miller collaborator and producer Doug Mitchell told Total Film, via GamesRadar, that despite Furiosa releasing nearly a decade after Fury Road, the character’s story was something Miller was working on well before then.
“So Furiosa was ready, in a story sense, 15 years ago,” Mitchell said. “And it’s been percolating, the way things do in George’s brain, ever since.”
Miller confirmed Mitchell’s comments, stating they “had finished the script of Furiosa before we shot Fury Road.”
Miller, himself, previously hinted at this when promoting Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015, when the director revealed plans for an anime companion piece to the film that told Furiosa’s backstory. Director, animator, and artist Mahiro Maeda, best known for his work on Neon Genesis Evangelion and who had worked as a concept artist for Fury Road, was earmarked to head the Furiosa anime before production for Fury Road suffered a second major delay due to weather conditions in Australia at the time.
The concept eventually evolved into the 2024 prequel film, which itself suffered multiple delays due to pay conflicts between Miller and Warner Bros. along with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Remember Her Name
Audiences first got to meet Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, where she was introduced as an Imperator in service to the tyrannical Immortan Joe. It is quickly revealed, though, she is aiding Joe’s young wives in their attempt to escape captivity for Furiosa’s home she referred to as “The Green Place.”
Tom Hardy’s Max Rockatansky joins them on their journey across The Wasteland despite some initial hostilities, and the pair are ultimately able to kill Joe and take over his Citadel.
Furiosa is set to star Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular character and takes place roughly 15 years before Fury Road, following the character’s abduction from “The Green Place of Many Mothers” during her youth. She soon finds herself in the snares of Warlord Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth, and his vicious Biker Horde as they fight to establish their dominance in The Wasteland against Immortan Joe while Furiosa learns to survive and find her way back home.
Furiosa is set to debut at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in May where it was chosen to be screened outside of the festival’s primary competition alongside films such as Horizon: An American Saga and Rumours.
Furiosa is scheduled to release in theaters on May 24, 2024.
