Furiosa Actress Learning To Drive So She Can Do Her Own Stunts

For the upcoming Furiosa spin-off movie, Academy Award winner Charlize Theron will not be returning to the part and in her place will be Golden Globe winner and Primetime Emmy Nominee Anya Taylor-Joy. The 25-year-old actress will take on the role for the upcoming prequel movie, setting the stage for where the character is in the Oscar winning Mad Max: Fury Road. In a new profile piece with The Los Angeles Times, the outlet reveals that Taylor-Joy has been "learning how to drive a car like a badass so that she can do most of her own stunts" for the movie but that's most of the details that they could get out of her about the project.

"I'm trying not to get in trouble!" She told them, but did reveal she's being taught how to handle herself behind the wheel "under the tutelage of George Miller's stunt team." The outlet addressed Taylor-Joy's extensive schedule that apparently has her busy for the next two and a half years. Furiosa is second on her list of projects and apparently won't begin until next year, corroborating a previous report where actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II revealed he would begin work on the film in February 2022. "All my friends are always like, 'What are you doing?!? Take ... a ... break,'" Taylor-Joy said. "But the roles are too good. I wouldn't be able to deal with it if I didn't say yes. I wouldn't cope. I'd rather just go for it and do my best."

Though minimal is known about the upcoming Furiosa, the young actress says that she wanted to take the part (despite a constantly busy schedule)

"The thing that makes me most excited about Furiosa is, No. 1, George Miller," Taylor-Joy previously revealed during a conversation hosted by Variety. "That brain is incredible. I'm also really excited to do something physical. To physically become something else is something that will weirdly give me a lot of peace."

Taylor-Joy will be joined in the film by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Marvel star Chris Hemsworth but who those pair will be playing in the film is unclear. Given that the new film takes place years before Fury Road, we shouldn't expect to see Max Rockatansky make an appearance, though the nature of cinematic universes makes it hard to rule that out entirely, even if only for a cameo.

Mad Max: Furiosa is currently slated to hit theaters on June 23, 2023.