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Anya Taylor-Joy has been tapped to play the lead role in Furiosa, a Mad Max: Fury Road prequel focusing on the road warrior’s early years. The New Mutants and Split actor will play the character once made famous by Charlize Theron and is joined by Chris Hemsworth and Watchmen’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. The movie has been co-written by Mad Max creator George Miller, who will also direct.
It’s been five years since audiences hurtled through the desert in 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, but Deadline confirmed director Miller is returning to expand his vision of the apocalypse. Furiosa will explore the character’s origins before she took on Immortan Joe with Tom Hardy’s Max Rockatansky.
Hemsworth and Abdul-Mateen’s roles in the prequel have yet to be announced. Miller has assembled an impressive trio for the prequel, but for now it’s unclear when production will begin on the next chapter in the Mad Max universe.
Mad Max: Fury Road briefly touched on Furiosa’s backstory, as Theron’s character recounted how she was kidnapped from the Vuvulini warrior women and “the green place” as a child. It seems likely the prequel starring Taylor-Joy will explore that period of her life further.
Perhaps Miller will use the new movie as an opportunity to introduce a younger Immortan Joe and explain why he needs that bizarre oxygen mask. There’s been little news on whether Hardy will reprise his role for a future sequel, but Miller previously revealed it has the working title of Mad Max: The Wasteland.
It’s somewhat disappointing that Theron won’t get to reprise her role from Fury Road, and the actor called the prequel news “heartbreaking” back in July. Hopefully, Miller and his Fury Road co-writer Nico Lathouris will ensure the next adventure is just as gripping as the 2015 movie.
