George Miller Is Planning a Furiosa/Mad Max Prequel, Has Auditioned Anya Taylor-Joy

Even as the world comes to quickly resemble the post-apocalyptic landscapes where he’s set his most famous stories, director George Miller still has another return to the world of Mad Max in the back of his mind. The director has stated his desire to make a film related to the character of Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road for years now, and it now seems that film could come in the form of a prequel. According to Variety, Miller even has a potential actress in mind: Emma’s Anya Taylor-Joy, who the director has apparently auditioned (along with others) for the role of a younger Furiosa, played so memorably in the first film by Charlize Theron. According to Variety, Miller held the audition via Skype because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and hopes to shoot the film in 2021.

Taylor-Joy would certainly make a lot of sense for the role. She’s one of the fastest-rising female stars in the industry today, has appeared in a number of critically acclaimed films that touch on various genres (The Witch, Split, Thoroughbreds, Emma), and seems poised for superstardom. A Furiosa-centered Mad Max movie might be more of an action bonanza than Taylor-Joy has shot in the past, but she does have some action experience, having been a star in the still-unreleased New Mutants, which has been hanging in limbo for several years now.

A significant window of time has passed now since the 2015 release of Fury Road, a film that delighted critics and audiences alike. Paste, in fact, eventually named Fury Road as the single best movie of the 2010s, a rare display of directorial mastery and genuinely thrilling action chops. Since that time, Miller has frequently stated his desire to return to the character of Furiosa in particular, given that she was the true star of Fury Road, but a story from the perspective of a younger Furiosa might well make more sense than another film starring Theron. Who knows what it might entail? Perhaps we’ll see some earlier days of the apocalypse, or the fabled “Green Place.” Perhaps we’ll even see how Furiosa lost that arm? A well-executed prequel could theoretically give even more emotional nuance to Theron’s great performance in Fury Road.

Miller is reportedly also auditioning other actresses for the part, so time will tell if Taylor-Joy proves to be right for the role. Based on everything we’ve seen to date, though, we have a pretty good feeling about the potential of this project.