A significant part of what makes Mad Max: Fury Road a unique cinematic achievement is the fact that it eschews traditional "rules" of storytelling. There is some normal set-up involved at the start that gives the viewer a sense of the characters and their lives, but for the most part the film is a giant chase sequence – with the band of heroes crossing a desert wasteland before doubling back to where they started. It's remarkably well executed... but if you're expecting the upcoming prequel Furiosa to follow the same road map, you'd be mistaken.
The book Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan is now available in stores everywhere, and while the majority of the tome is about the making of the fourth film in the Mad Max series, there are some details about where the franchise is going. For example, there is a quote from assistant director and producer P. J. Voeten (via SlashFilm) that gives us a taste of what to expect from the developing project:
Furiosa is more of a traditional three-act drama. If people are expecting to see another chase movie, it's not going to be that.
Co-written by George Miller and Nick Lathouris, Furiosa is a prequel spinoff from Mad Max: Fury Road, and, as the title implies, it puts the titular character front and center as the protagonist. While Charlie Theron played the heroine in the 2015 blockbuster to much critical acclaim, this time around the role will be played by Last Night In Soho and The Queen's Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy, and it's a part that the actor expects will change her as a person.
Tom Burke from the BBC series Strike joined the cast of Furiosa last November, becoming the second male co-star in the film after Chris Hemsworth (not counting Yayha Abdul-Mateen II, who had to drop out of the project late last year after signing on back in late 2020).
Beyond this information about the structure of Furiosa, we don't know much about the story that is being told. In Mad Max: Fury Road we learned that the titular character was kidnapped at a young age by the fascistic Immortan Joe, and she remained on his chain until adulthood, but nothing else specific about the plot has been revealed.
For what it's worth, at the very least we do know about some of the locations in which the film will take place. Blood, Sweat & Chrome also has a quote from Mad Max: Fury Road's unit production manager Dean Hood, who notes that the script takes the story to both Gas Town and the Bullet Farm – two civilizations mentioned in the 2015 movie but not shown.
Originally scheduled for next year, Furiosa is presently one of only three live-action movies scheduled for 2024 – the others being James Cameron's Avatar 3 and Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible 8 – and anticipation for the absolutely massive blockbuster already through the roof. While we wait for May 24, 2024 to get closer, there are plenty more films to see, and you can learn about all of the titles coming soon via our 2022 Movie Release Calendar.
