- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga release date: May 24, 2024
- Runtime: 2hr 28 min
- Director: George Miller
- Screenplay: George Miller, Nick Lathouris
- Studio: Warner Bros.
Furiosa’s cast has been hotly debated for some time now, and frankly, it’s fair to see why. After all, George Miller’s maddening magnum opus Mad Max: Fury Road was considered hard to top, though a return to Furiosa’s story has long been thought the best way to return to the hot, ballistic world of the franchise. The news, however, came as a shock to some, because it was revealed pretty quickly that the role of Charlize Theron’s Furiosa would be recast.
Fans were perplexed by the news–although Charlize has been out of the role for a decade, she’s still not “too old” to bring a younger version of the character to life. Even so, the story goes on. The film promises to be as big and bombastic as its predecessor and is shaping up to be something pretty special.
So, who can we expect to appear in Furiosa? Here’s our guide to characters you need to know in the upcoming Fury Road prequel.
Furiosa Characters: Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy)
Anya Taylor-Joy has revealed that she’s incredibly excited for her portrayal of the character to come to life, saying to Variety that the mind of director of George Miller is something to behold. “I feel so lucky and privileged to spend time with him, and to grow alongside him,” she says. “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. I’m quite excited to work hard.”
Miller has done well to cast someone who slips into Charlize Theron’s boots nicely here with superstar Taylor-Joy. We meet Furiosa shortly after she is captured, and the film will see her make a bid to escape her belligerent overlords before she comes to meet Max Rockatansky in Fury Road.
Furiosa Characters: Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth)
Making his name as Thor in the MCU is more than enough to have put Chris Hemsworth on the map, but his more eclectic roles in movies like Bad Times of the El Royale makes him perfect to become the big bad of Furiosa, Warlord Dementus.
He’s easy to gauge in the trailer for the film as a character that has made his home comfortably in the bizarre world of Mad Max, serving as a slightly egotistical, maniacally violent beast of a man. He is the leader of a biker gang that has a powerful army at its disposal, and we’re willing to bet that his appearance in the film will be of great danger to Furiosa herself.
Hemsworth, speaking to Variety, has expressed that Dementus isn’t a character to be trifled with, calling him a “complicated individual.” We’d call that an understatement.
“He’s a very violent, insane, brutal person that is born from the Wasteland, which is the world the ‘Mad Max’ saga takes place in,” he says. “He’s a product of his environment. He has been birthed into a space where it’s kill or be killed. He’s learned to rule with an iron fist. There’s a charisma to him and it’s a very manipulative charisma.”
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Furiosa Characters: Rictus Erectus (Nathan Jones)
Despite his suggestive name, we’re not sure we’d be quick to make jokes to the face of Rictus Erectus, played by Nathan Jones.
The Aussie powerlifting champion and former WWE Wrestler is more than ripped enough for the Wasteland, but his performances in Conan the Barbarian and Mortal Kombat prove he’s cut out to be a solid baddie to Furiosa too. This role is a returning one, as Jones played Erectus in Fury Road, standing as Immortan Joe’s youngest son, and an absolute brute who definitely isn’t to be trifled with. We don’t know yet how much he’ll appear in the movie, but it’s probably safe to say he won’t be particularly thrilled that Furiosa is trying to escape from the kingdom of his beloved father.
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Furiosa Characters: The Organic Mechanic (Angus Sampson)
You might be able to say his name in a sing-song, but he probably wouldn’t find it amusing. The Organic Mechanic is a returning character from Fury Road once again, played by Angus Simpson who you may recognize as Tucker in the first two Insidious movies.
The Organic Mechanic is, as you can probably infer from his name, a surgeon who operates in the Wasteland with whatever materials he’s lucky enough to find. He’s a little tapped (you’d probably have to be to perform surgeries without anesthetic or sanitary means), but he’s likely to come in handy what with all the bullets flying.
Furiosa Characters: Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke)
Joining the cast of Furiosa on more curious terms is renowned character actor Tom Burke, who is best known for his role as Orson Welles in David Fincher’s Mank. His appearance as Praetorian Jack is welcome, but we don’t yet know exactly what his character’s all about, as there’s a lot of secrecy surrounding him. This mystery, though, has led to great speculation.
Fans once expected that the actor would be taking up the role of a younger Immortan Joe, the big masked baddie of Mad Max: Fury Road, but that honor has been adopted by someone else.
Furiosa Characters: Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme)
Casting for the legendary Immortan Joe after his actor Hugh Keays-Byrne passed away in 2020 was bound to have been tough, but as he was playing Warlord Dementus’ lackey Rizzdale Pell, actor Lachy Hulme put to George Miller that he’d be willing to bring the beastly man to life, and Miller took him up on his promise to do him justice.
“[Miller] said, ‘I’ll probably just get a body double,’” Hulme said in an interview with Empire. “I said, ‘Well, somebody needs to step up for Hugh. Someone needs to honour this great man. I can do it. I can do the voice. And it’s all in the eyes.’” Hulme is now playing both roles, which is an impressive feat in such a bold, over-the-top world. We don’t envy him, but we’re willing to bet he crushes it.
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