Will Furiosa's "really interesting" backstory factor into Mad Max sequel?

A sequel to Mad Max: Fury Road was guaranteed as soon as it hit theaters. George Miller's reboot of the post-apocalyptic action franchise blew moviegoers away, because, well, it's a sterling example of how to refresh a cult classic. One element in particular delivered on every level: Furiosa. Charlize Theron's bad-ass Imperator kicked more butt than the titular Max, and so it makes sense that she'd appear in the sequel.

Miller's plans for the follow-up have been chugging along nicely; two story ideas are in the mix along with a tentative title Mad Max: The Wasteland. In a new interview with EW, the director confirms that he's zeroed in on one specific plot, and that he and the studio are “certainly having conversations about it. But I’m not sure if it’s the very next movie I want to do. I’ve got something a bit smaller before we go back out into the wasteland — something that’s contemporary that we can get through fairly quickly. And something with not too much technical difficulty. Something more performance-based and so on, just to clear the exhaust.”

Once the time is right, will there be room for Furiosa in the sequel? “Yeah, she’s a pretty compelling character so it would be great to tell her story,” he explains. “Her backstory is really interesting. We only allude to it in this movie because this movie is on the run; people don’t have much time for recreational talk. But you pick up, you have a sense of her having gone through stuff. That’s what the film is trying to do. You’re trying to put a lot of iceberg under the tip, I like saying.”

As for the audiences' enthusiasm for analysing the movie in search of clues and meaning, Miller couldn't be happier. “One of the things that’s really gratifying, people are reading the film more than just the surface — the events of the movie, and just picking up a lot of stuff underneath it, which is very deliberate. You work hard to get that in there so it’s not just empty action — that you’re getting some stuff out of it. You’re learning about characters and their relationships and the world and so on. So in many ways, the audience is picking up a lot about Furiosa — or enough to intrigue. And she’s got an interesting story.”

From what Miller previously stated, it seems as if Furiosa's involvement in the sequel is still murky. There's no mistaking that she's a compelling, watchable-as-hell character who needs to be onscreen again. Miller might be saving her for her own spinoff - rumored long ago - or for a future sequel. Whatever he decides, let's hope her first appearance won't end up being her last.

Images: Warner Bros.