When a Mad Max prequel centered on Imperator Furiosa was first announced, it was assumed that Fury Road star Charlize Theron would lead the project. But now, director George Miller has explained why this is not the case. While the filmmaker had initially intended for Theron to reprise the role, perhaps even using de-aging, he ultimately decided the technology was not convincing enough after seeing it utilized in the likes of Gemini Man and The Irishman. As Miller explained to Comicbook.com...

"So, everyone read a script a few years ago, the concept art and everything, and everyone read the screenplay in order to do Fury Road, not just the actors but everybody. [Charlize] read it about six months before, and she said 'We've got to do this first.' I said, Charlize, we've been trying to do this movie for almost a decade and we're all prepared to do this one. We have to do it, but she was very excited about it."

"My intention was that we do it, we do it next. But then we've now gone through the third parent company of Warner Bros. -- there's about four different regimes. That settled down by the time we got to actually do Furiosa, but the best part of a decade had gone by. And then I thought, 'OK, we could still do it with Charlize.' Then I saw these other movies like The Irishman, where they made people younger and particularly I saw Gemini Man. I was looking at was the technology; I wasn't looking at performance. I thought, 'We can't do it.'"

After realizing that Theron would not be able to play Furiosa in the decades-spanning story of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Miller needed to find someone else to take the part. But, at that time, he admitted he had no second choice.

Anya Taylor-Joy Takes on the Role of Furiosa in the Mad Max Spinoff

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

Writers

George Miller , Nick Lathouris

Studio

Kennedy Miller Mitchell, Village Roadshow Pictures, Warner Bros.

Tagline

Remember her.

Instead of Theron, acclaimed actor and The Northman star Anya Taylor-Joy will take on the role of Furiosa. While Miller had no second choice, it was director Edgar Wright who pointed him in the direction of the Last Night in Soho star.

“Anya is — Edgar Wright showed me Last Night in Soho just before it was released. I saw Anya in that, and I said, ‘She'd be good for’ — and he said, ‘Do it, do it.’ Without me even telling him what it was, he said, ‘Do it. She's great. She's great.’ There's something about her, it's almost difficult to put it into words. There's something mystical about her, and yet there's an accessibility. I learned that she was somebody who is very, very disciplined, and she's very young. She was a ballet dancer, Charlize was a ballet dancer. I worked on Happy Feet with a lot of brilliant dancers, and I understand the physical discipline, as well as emotional discipline they have. So, all of that led to Anya being Furiosa.”

Related

Furiosa First Reactions Arrive, Does the Mad Max Spinoff Live up to Fury Road?

The first reactions to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga are here.