Mad Max: Fury Road Prequel Will Not Star Charlize Theron as Furiosa

Everyone in Hollywood knows that George Miller makes movies on his own time, especially after the prolonged production schedule of Mad Max: Fury Road with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. But the long-awaited followup to Fury Road seems like it’s finally coming together, and the project will focus on Theron’s character Imperator Furiosa. But because this will serve as a prequel to Fury Road, Miller had to consider whether he would use CGI to “de-age” the seemingly immortal Theron or cast a different actress entirely as the bad ass renegade. And now we have our answer.

Miller recently spoke with the New York Times as part of a multipart feature focusing on the making of the Academy Award-nominated Mad Max: Fury Road, and in the process revealed some details about the plans for the prequel film after he’s done with his next project, Three Thousand Years of Longing starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton.

“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 explained.

Unfortunately, Theron will not be back to reprise her role as the fan-favorite character from Mad Max: Fury Road, as Miller explained his decision to recast despite advancements in technology.

“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,” Miller said. “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 script for the film was apparently finished before filming on Mad Max: Fury Road took place. Miller said the team created extensive backstories for every character, but their work on Furiosa inspired them to dig a lot deeper.

It could be a long ways until cameras finally start rolling on the Furiosa prequel that fans have been clamoring form, but judging by the reaction to Mad Max: Fury Road — it will be worth the wait.