At this point, it’s a near-universally accepted fact that Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa was the real star of Mad Max: Fury Road, not Tom Hardy’s Max Rockatansky. Anyone hoping to see more of her in the sequel to Fury Road might be disappointed, though, as franchise creator/director George Miller recently indicated that he has no plans to bring Furiosa back for an encore performance.
According to Miller, Theron’s butt-kicking battle-wagon driver could very likely become a one-movie star.
Asked by Digital Spy whether Furiosa will return in the Fury Road sequel — rumored to have the working title Mad Max: The Wasteland — Miller responded with some uncertainty about the character’s fate.
“I’m not sure, is the answer,” he said. “[Furiosa] is 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.”
With Fury Road ranking high on quite a few lists of the year’s best movies (so far) and impressive numbers from both movie ticket and DVD/Blu-ray sales, a sequel seems all but assured, but Miller has stopped short of confirming any details about the follow-up to the hit film. Even the film’s title, it seems, is not official at this point.
“That name came out, that was just a working title,” he explained. “[Fury Road co-writer] 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 very small without any special effects and not many stunts.”
Mad Max: Fury Road arrived on DVD and Blu-ray last month, and will likely be in the running for various technical awards at this year’s Academy Awards. There’s currently no timetable for the film’s sequel to go into production.
