The latest film in George Miller’s post-apocalyptic franchise has a lot to live up to – but early reactions bode well.
There are a lot of blockbuster films set for release in the coming weeks and months – but none of them have expectations anywhere near as sky high as Furiosa, the latest film in George Miller’s dystopian Mad Max saga.
The film is a prequel to 2015’s almost universally adored Fury Road, which won six Oscars out of 10 nominations and is now regarded as one of the best films of the 21st century – and arguably one of the finest action movies of all time.
That’s certainly a high bar to clear, but if early reactions are anything to go by, Miller has only gone and done it again. Adjectives such as “stunning” and “ferocious” have been thrown around by those lucky enough to have had a sneak preview – while Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance as the title character has also been heaped with praise.
Taylor-Joy takes over from Charlize Theron as a younger version of Furiosa, with the epic story set to follow her travails in the post-apocalyptic Wasteland after she falls in with a great biker horde led by the warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth).
The film will be premiering at the Cannes Film Festival very shortly and there won’t be too long to wait before general audiences can feast their eyes on it too – read on for everything you need to know about Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
Furiosa release date
Furiosa will be released in cinemas on 24th May 2024 – so there’s barely any time to wait.
Before then, it will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday 15th May, where it has been given an Out of Competition slot almost nine years to the day after Fury Road debuted at the same festival in 2015.
Principal photography began on this film in June 2022, with images circulating in July 2022 of Chris Hemsworth on-set as the character Dementus, before filming wrapped in October of that year.
Furiosa cast for Mad Max: Fury Road prequel
The following cast members will appear in the Mad Max prequel Furiosa.
- Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa
- Chris Hemsworth as Dementus
- Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack
- Lachy Hulme as Immortan Joe / Rizzdale Pell
- Nathan Jones as Rictus Erectus
- Angus Sampson as The Organic Mechanic
- Goran D Kleut as The Octoboss
- Josh Helman as Scrotus
- John Howard as The People Eater
- Charlee Fraser as Mary Jo Bassa
- Daniel Webber as War Boy
- Quaden Bayles as TBC
Anya Taylor-Joy will take on the role of Furiosa, which was originated by Charlize Theron in the film Mad Max: Fury Road.
Speaking about why he wanted to recast the role for the prequel, George Miller recently explained in an interview with Empire: “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.”
Meanwhile, on the decision to cast Taylor-Joy, he said that the Queen’s Gambit star had an “innately resolute quality” and that there was “a mystique about her”.
He added: “And she’d been trained young as a ballet dancer. Charlize trained young as a ballet dancer. There’s a precision to them that was needed.”
Elsewhere, Chris Hemsworth will portray the main villain of the piece, a warlord leading a great biker horde named Dementus, while The Souvenir and Strike star Tom Burke will play a character named Praetorian Jack, who allies himself with Furiosa.
Burke’s role had originally been given to Aquaman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who had to depart the film due to a scheduling conflict.
Meanwhile, actors who are reprising their roles from Fury Road include Nathan Jones as Rictus Erectus, Angus Sampson as The Organic Mechanic, John Howard as The People Eater and Josh Helman as Scrotus.
New faces in the cast include Lachy Hulme as Immortan Joe, the character who was previously played by the late Hugh Keays-Byrne in Fury Road, Alien: Covenant’s Goran D Kleut as The Octoboss and Charlee Fraser – who recently made her film debut in romcom Anyone But You –as Furiosa’s mother Mary Jo Bassa.
And it’s also been reported that iconic character Mad Max will himself make a cameo appearance, played by Tom Hardy’s Fury Road stuntman, Jacob Tomuri.
Is there a trailer for Furiosa?
You can bet there is: a couple of different trailers have been released giving fans a glimpse at another epic adventure in the Wasteland.
The most recent trailer was released in March 2024 – watch it below to get a taste of what to expect from the most recent chapter in the saga.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga plot
The film follows Furiosa’s story leading up to the events in Mad Max: Fury Road – set to cover a timespan of 15 years.
The official synopsis reads: “Snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers, young Furiosa 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.
“As the two tyrants fight for dominance, Furiosa soon finds herself in a nonstop battle to make her way home.”
Consider us hyped!
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is released in UK cinemas on Friday 24th May 2024.
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