Mad Max: Furiosa Star Confirms She Didn’t Collaborate With Charlize Theron About Role

One of the key components of Mad Max: Fury Road‘s success was Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa, a role that Anya Taylor-Joy is taking over for the upcoming prequel Mad Max: Furiosa, with the actor recently confirming that she hadn’t discussed the character with Theron before filming began. Taylor-Joy pointed out that this was likely in order to allow each performer to put their stamp on the character in their own unique ways, but that they planned on meeting up in the near future to discuss what the experience was like for them both. Mad Max: Furiosa lands in theaters on May 24, 2024.

“Charlize was sweet enough — I think both of us ended up in a situation where we were both so respectful of each other that we didn’t want to reach out prior [to filming],” Taylor-Joy revealed to PEOPLE. “The second it was over, once this press tour is over, we’re having dinner and we’re going to swap war stories for sure.”

While Furiosa might not have been the title character of Fury Road, she was clearly the breakout hit of the experience, leaving audiences to wonder if we would get to see more of her. When a spinoff was confirmed, audiences were understandably thrilled, though the nature of a prequel and enlisting a new performer brought not only audiences’ disappointment, but even Theron herself.

“It’s a tough one to swallow. Listen, I fully respect [director] George [Miller], if not more so in the aftermath of making Fury Road with him. He’s a master, and I wish him nothing but the best, ” Theron admitted to The Hollywood Reporter back in 2020. “Yeah, it’s a little heartbreaking, for sure. I really love that character, and I’m so grateful that I had a small part in creating her. She will forever be someone I think of and reflect on fondly. Obviously, I would love to see that story continue, and if he feels like he has to go about it this way, then I trust him in that manner. We get so hung up on the smaller details that we forget the thing that we emotionally tap into has nothing to do with that minute thing that we’re focusing on.”

The new film is described,  “As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and 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. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.”

Mad Max: Furiosa lands in theaters on May 24, 2024.

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