Charlize Theron Heartbroken at Being Left Out of Mad Max Prequel

Charlize Theron's Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road will return in a prequel helmed by director George Miller, but not played by Theron. Miller is looking for a younger actor for the prequel and, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Theron admits that wasn't news she was happy to hear. "It's a tough one to swallow," she said. "Listen, I fully respect George, if not more so in the aftermath of making that film with him. He's a master, and I wish him nothing but the best. 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."

In the same interview, Theron explains how Fury Road felt like a rare second chance for her to be an action movie star after the disappointing performance of Æon Flux, a second chance she's parlayed into lead roles in action movies like Atomic Blonde and The Old Guard. "A lot of women don't get a second chance, but when men make these movies and fail miserably, they get chance after chance after chance to go and explore that again," explained Theron. "That doesn't necessarily happen for women.

"Fury Road came a good decade after Æon Flux, and there's always been that voice in the back of my head that still somewhat responds to that. I'm still influenced by that, and it's one thing that drives me. It's unfortunate that we feel like the opportunity will be taken away from us in a heartbeat if we don't succeed, but that is the truth. It's not a very forgiving genre when it comes to women."

Miller hopes to shoot the Furiosa prequel in 2021. "So after we finish [Three Thousand Years of Longing], and hopefully everything settles down with the pandemic, we'll see what the world allows us to do with Furiosa," Miller said in a recent interview. "For the longest time, I thought we could just use CG de-aging on Charlize, but I don't think we're nearly there yet. Despite the valiant attempts on The Irishman, I think there's still an uncanny valley. Everyone is on the verge of solving it, particular Japanese video-game designers, but there's still a pretty wide valley, I believe."

The Old Guard is now streaming on Netflix.