Mad Max, the post-apocalyptic action film series created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy, is set to get its next installment this summer, with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The first film in the series debuted in 1979, followed by three additional installments: The Road Warrior, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and the Oscar-winning Mad Max: Fury Road. Additionally, the series has greatly impacted pop culture, especially apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction. The film series centers on the exploits of Max Rockatansky, a police officer in future Australia when conflict and severe resource shortages have caused society to implode. The upcoming film in the franchise will be a prequel spin-off to Fury Road.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will examine the origins of the 2015 movie's pivotal character, Imperator Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron in the 2015 film), and answer questions related to her past. She first appears in Fury Road during a speech by Immortan Joe, where it is revealed that she handles logistics for Joe's citadel and is specifically tasked with transporting oil from Gas Town to the Citadel. She serves as Immortan Joe's war captain but rebels against him to rescue The Five Wives. Furiosa's character has won praise from critics worldwide as a strong female action heroine who introduces feminist ideas to the franchise. Here is everything we currently know about the dynamic standalone spin-off centering around Furiosa.

Editor's Note: This article was updated on May 9, 2024.

Does 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' Have a Release Date?

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is scheduled to release in theaters on Friday, May 24, 2024. The prequel was initially slated for release on June 23, 2023, before being delayed 11 months to its current release date. Other films scheduled to release on the same day include The Garfield Movie starring Chris Pratt and the Angel Studios' film Sight starring Greg Kinnear. Furiosa had its premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2024, ahead of its wide release.

Will 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' Be in Theaters?

Yes, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will enjoy an exclusive theatrical release, much like the previous four installments. The prequel will also receive a release in IMAX. The film will eventually be made available for streaming on the Max streaming service at a later date.

Is There a Trailer for 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'?

A trailer for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga was released online on November 30, 2023, after being unveiled at the 2023 edition of CCXP. The two-and-a-half minute preview sets the stage for the film with the following text hovering above the roads of the Wasteland:

"45 years after the collapse, a young Furiosa is taken from her family. She will devote the rest of her life to finding her way home. This is her odyssey."

A second trailer for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga was released online by Warner Bros on March 19, 2024.

A third and final trailer for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga was released by Warner Bros. on May 9, 2024, revealing that tickets are now available.

A poster, showing off some of the film's cast was revealed on December 11.

Who Stars in 'Furiosa: A Max Max Saga'?

A number of acclaimed actors have joined the cast of Furiosa, making the film even more exciting than it already was. The incredibly talented Anya Taylor-Joy will star as a young Imperator Furiosa, taking over from Academy Award winner Charlize Theron, who originated the role in Mad Max: Fury Road. Taylor-Joy rose to fame with her role in The VVitch, before going on to star in other high-profile projects, including The Queen's Gambit, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Split, Last Night in Soho, The Menu, and The Northman. Imperator Furiosa might be her most violent and action-packed role to date, and fans can't wait to see her in this new guise.

Miller explained the limits of de-aging technology as one of the core reasons why Theron was recast with Taylor-Joy, saying:

"It definitely would have been Charlize [had Furiosa been filmed before Fury Road]. I began thinking, 'Oh, maybe we could do de-aging.' Then I watched really masterful filmmakers like Ang Lee and Martin Scorsese, doing Gemini Man and The Irishman, and I saw that it hadn't been licked. All you'd be watching is, 'Look how well the technology works?' It would not have been persuasive. "

Taylor-Joy was initially excited to shave her head in order to fully possess her character's iconic look. However, due to scheduling, that was not possible. In an interview with Variety, she revealed that prosthetics and makeup were used to achieve the look.

"I was so excited to shave my head for this movie. George very quickly said, 'It's not going to work with our schedule and the fact that we have to follow the character throughout so many different stages in her life.' It was just an incredible prosthetic, and we also had a prosthetic that I could actually shave off, because that was something that was really important to me."

Taylor-Joy only has about 30 lines of dialogue in Furiosa, much like Tom Hardy's Max did in the previous movie. In an interview with The New York Times, Taylor-Joy claimed that there were entire months on set where she never spoke a line of dialogue, saying:

"I’ve never been more alone than making that movie. I don’t want to go too deep into it, but everything that I thought was going to be easy was hard."

Taylor-Joy also added:

“I do want to 100 percent preface this by saying I love George and if you’re going to do something like this, you want to be in the hands of someone like George Miller. But he had a very, very strict idea of what Furiosa’s war face looked like, and that only allowed me my eyes for a large portion of the movie. It was very much ‘mouth closed, no emotion, speak with your eyes.’ That’s it, that’s all you have.”

Thor star Chris Hemsworth is also starring in the film, playing the villain, Warlord Dementus. There's no doubt that Furiosa will be an iconic film for fans as Hemsworth will be seen stepping out of his usual MCU character. Outside of playing Thor, Hemsworth has also starred in the Extraction movies, The Cabin in the Woods, Snow White and the Huntsman, Ghostbusters (2016), and Men in Black: International.

Tom Burke will also star in the film in an undisclosed role. Burke is most recognized for his performances as Athos in the 2014–2016 BBC series The Musketeers and Dolokhov in the 2016 BBC miniseries War & Peace, which was an adaptation of the classic novel. Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was previously attached to the role but left due to a scheduling conflict.

Alyla Browne, who worked with Miller on Three Thousand Years of Longing will also star in the film as young Furiosa. The rest of the cast includes Charlee Fraser (Anyone But You) as Furiosa's mother Mary Jo Bassa, Daniel Webber (The Punisher) as a War Boy, and Quaden Bayles, a 12-year-old first-time actor.

Apart from these new faces joining the Mad Max universe, Fury Road actors Nathan Jones, Angus Sampson, and John Howard will be a part of Furiosa, reprising their roles as Rictus Erectus, the Organic Mechanic, and the People Eater. Lachy Hulme will be taking over from the late Hugh Keays-Byrne, as Immortan Joe, the main villain from Mad Max: Fury Road.

What Is the Plot of 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'?

While Mad Max: Fury Road only took place across several days, the scope of Furiosa will be much larger, spanning the 15 years leading up to the events of Fury Road.

The official synopsis of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga reads:

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.

It is confirmed that the prequel will dwell on Imperator Furiosa's past and showcase her struggles before she meets Max Rockatansky. Her journey to become a strong-willed and moral leader and her tough past that shaped her into a positive feminist action hero will be chronicled in Furiosa. The movie is also expected to answer questions about how she lost her arm and gained a prosthetic in its place.

Who Is Making 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'?

George Miller directed and co-wrote Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, continuing his work crafting the expansive Mad Max franchise. Miller is also co-producing the film with Doug Mitchell. The talented Fury Road crew, including co-writer Nico Lathouris, film editor Margaret Sixel, production designer Colin Gibson, sound mixer Ben Osmo, makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt, composer Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg), and costume designer Jenny Beavan are all back to work on Furiosa. Simon Duggan (Hacksaw Ridge) serves as the cinematographer of the film.

When and Where Did 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' Film?

Filming for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga commenced in June 2022, after previously having been delayed due to COVID. Production primarily took place in New South Wales, Australia, primarily in the towns of Hay and Silverton.

Much like Fury Road, the production of Furiosa proved to be a strenuous but rewarding experience. In an interview with Total Film Magazine, George Miller and Doug Mitchell revealed that the movie includes a 15-minute action scene that took 78 days to shoot with over 200 stunt performers working daily. Anya Taylor-Joy commented on the sequence, saying:

"George [Miller] and I would have these big conversations about why this particular set-piece was so long. It's because you see an accumulation of skills over the course of a battle, and that's very important for understanding how resourceful Furiosa is, but also her grit. It's the longest sequence any of us have ever shot. On the day we finished, everybody got a 'Stairway to Nowhere' wine!"

In October 2022, Taylor-Joy revealed that she had wrapped filming, sharing a post on Instagram.

What Will 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' Be Rated?

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will be rated R. The film has received the rating for "sequences of strong violence, and grisly images." The first two installments of the Mad Max franchise, Mad Max and The Road Warrior, as well as Mad Max: Fury Road, were rated R, although the third film, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, was only PG-13.

What's Next For the 'Mad Max' Franchise?

It's been nine years since the release of Mad Max: Fury Road, and between that time Miller had plenty of ideas on how he could possibly follow up his Oscar-winning action epic. Shortly after the release of Fury Road, Miller revealed that the sequel would be titled Mad Max: The Wasteland. However, just a few months later, Miller clarified his comments claiming that "The Wasteland" wasn't the actual title.

"The more I speculate about what’s happening, the more I try to avoid spoilers this far out, and also I find myself talking around in circles. So the best thing I can say is that we’re definitely in discussion about making more of these, but the timing of it, I’m really not sure. Probably won’t be called Wasteland . I can say that. It was just the working title we gave it."

In 2017, when asked whether there would be a sequel to Fury Road, Tom Hardy seemed optimistic, saying:

"Yeah, as far as I’ve signed to do three of them. It’s a question of when. I’m not sure it’s called The Wasteland or not ‘cause you never know. These titles change all the time. But, there’s definitely another Mad Max project pending."

While promoting the release of Furiosa in 2024, Miller revealed that another prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road had been written, which he hopes to make next.

“Mainly because to tell the story of Fury Road , which happens over a very compressed amount of time, you could argue that the first act of Fury Road and the last act are almost playing in real time over three days in order to tell that story on the run. Picking up all the backstory, all the exposition on the way, everybody working on the film — not only the cars, but all the designers, all the prop makers, everybody — had to understand the backstory very intimately in order for it to be coherent.

So, we had to write the story of Furiosa and the 18 years, as it turns out, before we meet her in Fury Road . We also had to write the story of the year of Max in the year before we encounter him in Fury Road . So, we have that story. We wrote that as a novella, Nico Lathouris and I, and so that's the story we have yet to tell.”