George Miller Says Not To Expect Much Furiosa In The MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Sequel
Last Monday, we brought you word on George Miller's plans to make not one, but two Mad Max: Fury Road sequels. At the time, we celebrated the idea that Miller might get to return to the Mad Max universe two more times (what a time to be alive, indeed), but there was a little back-and-forth amongst fans over whether or not these proposed sequels would - or should! - include Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa. On the one hand, Furiosa may have been the greatest thing about Fury Road. On the other (mechanical) hand, Mad Max series tradition would imply that the only real holdover from Fury Road would be Tom Hardy as Max.
Well, we can knock off the back-and-forth: George Miller has (mostly) clarified how much Furiosa we should expect in these sequels. Speaking with Digital Spy, Miller says:
"I'm not sure, is the answer...She's not in the Mad Max (sequel) story, but in one of the stories there's an interaction between (Max and Furiosa). I can't really say more than that because it's still in progress.
So, not much Furiosa at all! Based on what Miller's saying, there may be room for a Furiosa cameo somewhere up the line, but another co-starring turn for Theron is looking very unlikely. It's here that we should remind any would-be protesters that this is entirely in keeping with the rest of the Mad Max franchise: beyond the post-apocalyptic setting and the appearance of the Interceptor, Max Rockatansky is the only real constant in this series. Furiosa's return would've shattered that tradition (whether or not we would've been OK with that is another discussion entirely).
Miller went on to clarify a few other points, including the fact that the next film might not feature the title (Mad Max: The Wasteland) we've long been led to expect:
"That name came out, that was just a working title. Nico Lathouris and I wrote deep backstories on all the characters and they eventually became screenplays - so we have two (more movies). I'm happy to say that there's discussions about them right now, but I hope the next film I make is a very small without any special effects and not many stunts."
And now we're back to the stuff Miller was saying last week: enough material's been generated to fill out two sequels, Miller wants to take on a smaller-scale/non-effects-heavy film before heading back into the desert, etc. Here's hoping it all comes together as planned. No one would be more excited about more Mad Max movies (or more George Miller movies in general) than the Birth.Movies.Death. team.
Stay tuned, folks. We'll keep you updated as more develops.
