The world of Mad Max is growing with the upcoming release of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, but, according to director George Miller, it will likely be without Mel Gibson. Gibson appeared as the first iteration of George Miller's iconic post-apocalyptic survivor way back in 1979, and returned for two sequels: Mad Max 2 The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). When Miller rebooted the franchise with 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, Tom Hardy replaced Mel Gibson in the eponymous role. With Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and another sequel in the works, some fans are hoping Gibson may return to Miller's genre-defining world, but the director has squashed these hopes.

Speaking to Jake's Takes about Furiosa, George Miller was asked whether there was a possibility that Mel Gibson could return to the world of Mad Max. While the director didn't completely rule out the possibility, he did say that it was highly unlikely. When rebooting the Mad Max franchise, the director said he did so with the intention of reinvigorating the characters with youthful actors, and couldn't envision an older version of Max. Miller said:

"There's no story that I have that has an older character, like Harrison Ford, or so on. It's not like an Unforgiven or one of those movies, where it's really an old burnt out person coming back one more time."

While George Miller is renowned for his meticulous planning - with the original script for Mad Max: Fury Road being an entire room filled with storyboards - the director said he hasn't thought about where Gibson's version of Max would be in the current timeline.

"I don't know what happens to Max when he gets into his 60s. I haven't even thought of that."

More Mad Max Movies Are Coming

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Action

Fantasy

A prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is an action-adventure film that tells the origin story of the headstrong and fearless Furiosa. Set shortly after the beginning of the "end of the world," Furiosa is kidnapped and brought before a powerful warlord, now forced to work for him. To find her way back home, Furiosa will adapt to the new harsh and arid world as she grows into the Furiosa she becomes known to be. 

Release Date

May 24, 2024

Director

George Miller

Cast

Chris Hemsworth , Anya Taylor-Joy , Tom Burke , Angus Sampson , Daniel Webber , Nathan Jones

Main Genre

Action

Returning to the world of Mad Max for 2015's Fury Road has re-ignited George Miller's passion and ideas for the future of the franchise. Even though Fury Road was a nightmare to make, taking over 15 years thanks to budget problems, severe weather, terror attacks, and travel restrictions, it hasn't put the director off of returning to his iconic apocalyptic world. As well as Furiosa, which tells the origin story of the titular character, who first appeared in Fury Road (with Anya Taylor-Joy taking over from Charlize Theron), Miller has also teased he has another idea in the works, which could bring Tom Hardy back as Max Rockatansky.

Speaking to EW, Miller discussed the backstory he created for Max during production on Fury Road, and how he hopes to one day bring that story to the big screen. The director said:

""In doing what we did in the preparation of Mad Max: Fury Road, we also wrote what happened to Max in the year before we encounter him in [that film]. And as we get towards the end of this movie, the chronology... Basically, we had to see that Mad Max was lurking around somewhere because we do know what happened. The writers know what happened to Mad Max in that year before, and we have a whole story of that, which I would like to do sometime if I get the chance."

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Miller backed this up during his interview with Jake's Takes, when he revealed the meticulous level of narrative planning he has whilst creating his stories. Although Furiosa moves the franchise away from Max Rockatansky, Miller admitted that he knows what the character is doing at all times, even when he's not on-screen. Miller said:

"We can't tell the stories otherwise. Everybody working on the film... not only the cast, but also the crew, and the designer, had to have the backstory. We wrote the backstories for Furiosa, and for Max in the times we encountered them in Fury Road. So I can definitely tell you where Max is during all of that story. We had to know that. How else can we tell that story?"

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga stars Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular heroine, and tells her story between the ages of 10 and 20, up to the character fans fell in love with in Fury Road. Alongside Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth stars as the film's villain, a warlord known as Dementus.