Furiosa: Anya Taylor-Joy Provides Update on Mad Max Prequel

Fans have been waiting years to get more adventures of Mad Max: Fury Road's Furiosa, with star of the new prequel adventure Anya Taylor-Joy recently confirming that production on the film will likely kick off before the end of the summer. With the actor earning acclaim in recent years for period dramas like The Queen's Gambit and Emma, she would also go on to note how excited she was to tackle something much more physically demanding than her previous efforts. She did, however, star in the X-Men spinoff The New Mutants, though with that film originally slated to hit theaters in 2018, it's been quite a few years since she's embarked on an action-packed endeavor.

"I've got a grace period until August, and then I will be working back to back until mid-2023," Taylor-Joy shared during a conversation hosted by Variety. "Hear me out about this. Everyone thought I was mental doing Emma, [Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho], and Queen's Gambit. And to be fair, I was. I recognize that. It was a wild thing to do, but I had to do it. I've realized now how unhealthy I am, and the way that I'm thinking about it is if I can get a routine where I exist off of something other than Diet Coke and cigarettes and I can do this and be happier."

She continued, "The thing that makes me most excited about Furiosa is, No. 1, George Miller. 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."

While Taylor-Joy will be playing the titular role, it's unknown the role Hemsworth will be playing. 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.

Earlier this year, Miller himself hinted at the narrative of the prequel and how it will differ from Fury Road.

"Whereas Fury Road essentially happened over three days and two nights, this happens over many years," the filmmaker pointed out during a press conference. "You try to make films that are uniquely familiar. This will be familiar to those people who know Mad Max, and in particular Fury Road, but also it will be unique."

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

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