George Miller’s upcoming Furiosa will focus on the early life of the eponymous heroine of Mad Max: Fury Road, and there are numerous living Mad Max characters who could appear. Charlize Theron previously played Imperator Furiosa in Fury Road, and her character is the real heart of the film, with Max (Tom Hardy) joining forces with her to lead a group of captive women to freedom. Anya Taylor-Joy takes on the role of Furiosa in the prequel, and some early info about the movie hints at a considerable amount of connective tissue with Fury Road.
The story of Furiosa will reportedly involve the young protagonist being snatched from “The Green Place“, and taken into the Biker Horde ruled over by Warlord Dementus. With Dementus in a battle against Immortan Joe, Furiosa‘s story clearly facilitates the possibility of multiple characters from prior Mad Max movies appearing in the prequel. Here are five living Mad Max characters who could show up in Furiosa.
5 Mad Mad
The most obvious candidate who is alive to cameo in Furiosa is Mad Max himself. Max and Furiosa appear to be around the same age in Mad Max: Fury Road, so within the timeline of the Mad Max franchise, Max would be alive and about 15 to 20 years younger in the time of Furiosa. The only challenge for Max making a cameo in Furiosa is creating a scenario where his appearance is not only plausible but consistent with their relationship in Fury Road.
Max and Furiosa meet each other for the first time in Fury Road, so Max can only have a role in Furiosa’s prequel film if the two of them do not cross paths. With the vast expanse of the post-apocalyptic Earth, that would not necessarily be hard to accomplish, with Max instead being featured in a scene or two with some supporting characters without Furiosa herself present. Like the nomadic wanderer that he is, Max’s mercurial nature also means he could very conceivably come and go in Furiosa without any problem at all.
4 Immortan Joe
The villainous post-apocalyptic warlord Immortan Joe is already confirmed to have a role in Furiosa‘s cast of characters, while Chris Hemsworth also seems like a good bet to be portraying a younger Immortan Joe in the prequel. Mad Max: Fury Road already laid the groundwork for Immortan Joe’s appearance in the film, with Furiosa acting as one of Joe’s Imperators before defecting to take his wives to freedom. How Furiosa became an associate of Joe’s could be one of the best stories for Furiosa to tackle.
While the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel comic goes a bit into their backstory (and even all but confirms that Furiosa was once one of Joe’s brides herself), there are still plenty of unexplored stories that Furiosa’s origin film could tell. Furiosa might have become one of Joe’s Imperators very reluctantly after surviving the battle between him and Warlord Dementus. The memory of such a defeat would likely be something Furiosa would carry with her, and coupled with seeing what Joe was doing to his brides, would surely lead to her eventual revolt against him.
3 Goose
Max’s best friend Jim “Goose” Rains (Steve Bisley) was seemingly murdered by the Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and Johnny the Boy (Tim Burns) in the first Mad Max. However, Goose was originally scripted to have been the Humungus in The Road Warrior, indicating that Miller might still be open to bringing Goose back. Furiosa could finally be the chapter of the Mad Max universe to bring Goose back into action.
Even in the event that Goose did survive being burned alive by the Toecutter, he was still very badly burned in kept on life support in the local emergency room. Mad Max is also set before society has fully collapsed, so the passage of time to Furiosa could show a Goose who has been burned both internally and externally. In turn, that could very well have made Goose into a much darker character than the jovial friend Max once knew, and into more of an anti-hero who could also nevertheless become Furiosa’s ally.
2 The Many Mothers Tribe
Mad Max: Fury Road gives hints to Furiosa’s origins when she reunites with the female tribe known as Vuvalini a.k.a. the Many Mothers. However, Furiosa is heartbroken to learn that the lush sanctuary known as “The Green Place” has withered into a desolate swamp in the middle of the desert. With the Furiosa prequel already focusing on a younger Furiosa and her abduction from the Green Place, her time as part of the Many Mothers is a perfect area of her life for the movie to explore.
The Many Mothers could even tie into Immortan Joe’s appearance, as well. With Furiosa alluding to being kidnapped by Joe in her youth, the Furiosa movie could show both that and the warrior training she underwent as part of the “Swaddle Dog” clan of Many Mothers. Additionally, with the movie taking place so much earlier in Furiosa’s life, it could go even further by properly showing the Green Place itself as the oasis in a post-apocalyptic world that Furiosa and the wives speak of in Fury Road.
1 The Feral Kid
The Road Warrior sees Mel Gibson’s Mad Max become a hero to a grunting, boomerang-wielding boy known only as the Feral Kid (Emily Minty). With the Feral Kid narrating The Road Warrior as an elderly man many years later, he would most certainly be alive during the time in which Furiosa takes place. That makes a grown version of the Feral Kid another possible candidate to appear in Furiosa. Moreover, the biggest fan theory attached to Fury Road may have already set him up for it.
With Tom Hardy playing a much more barbaric and unkempt version of Max than Mel Gibson, some have theorized that Hardy’s version of the character is actually the Feral Kid as an adult. Per this theory, the Feral Kid has taken on the appearance (and, by the end of Fury Road, name) of his childhood hero. Should Miller decide the Feral Kid theory is something he wishes to implement into the Max Mad franchise, Furiosa could be the perfect place to unveil the Feral Kid as the eventual Road Warrior of Mad Max: Fury Road.
Key Release Dates
Furiosa
Release Date:2024-05-24
