George Miller Confirms ‘Mad Max: Furiosa’ Prequel Is Next, But Charlize Theron Won’t Star

As you likely recently read in the New York Times 5-year anniversary piece on “Mad Max: Fury Road,” it was nearly a miracle the film was pulled off. The film was expensive, production was shut down three different times, and the big, bloated, ambitious movie was so risky, it had the execs at Warner Bros. extremely nervous which led to many worried set visits in Australia at the time by the studio brass. Studio math is tricky, but ‘Fury Road’ was always rumored to be one that didn’t really profit at the end of the, so long-gestating rumors and talk of a sequel seemed a distant hope. Worse, Miller was embroiled with a legal battle with Warner Bros. over unpaid earnings on the movie. But five years later, with that legal dispute behind them, and likely millions of rentals probably turning the profit margins into the black, ‘Fury Road’ might be driving off into the desert again.

READ MORE: ‘Furiosa’: George Miller Reportedly Talked To Anya Taylor-Joy About Starring In ‘Mad Max’ Spin-Off

In another follow-up New York Times piece, ‘Fury Road’ director George Miller several of the recent ‘Mad Max’ rumors that go like this: the new sequel will actual be a prequel and center on a young Furiosa. And that means, don’t expect Charlize Theron to star in it. And as Miller suggested way back when, they had already written a second ‘Mad Max’ script based on Furiosa before ‘Fury Road’ started filming just to flesh out and explain all the rich backstory and context threaded throughout the film.

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“I got to read it when I was cast,” said Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who played Splendid, one of the wives in ‘Fury Road.’ “It’s genius. I’ve always wondered if that movie’s going to get made.” “[This second script] was purely a way of helping Charlize and explaining it to ourselves,” Miller said.

READ MORE: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’: Uma Thurman & Jeremy Renner Were Considered For The Lead Roles

Miller says he’s been given the green light to go-ahead on the movie and has even started early auditions. There was even an idea to keep Charlize Theron in the movie too.

“For the longest time, I thought we could just use CG de-aging on Charlize, but I don’t think we’re nearly there yet,” Miller admitted. “Despite the valiant attempts on ‘The Irishman,’ I think there’s still an uncanny valley. Everyone is on the verge of solving it, particularly Japanese video-game designers, but there’s still a pretty wide valley, I believe.”

“The next possible iteration, which is on the table, has even more,” production designer Colin Gibson said about the even-bigger scale of the prequel, which he’ll be working on again. Returning again for the project will be now semi-retired cinematographer John Seale. “I’ve had wonderful opportunities to work after ‘Fury Road,’ as you can imagine, and I’ve passed on all of them,” Seale said. “But on ‘Fury Road,’ I told George, ‘If anybody else rings, I’m retired. If you ring, we’ll have lunch.’ And seven years later, he rang.”

READ MORE: Steven Soderbergh Talks ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’: “I Don’t Understand How Hundreds Of People Aren’t Dead”

Rumors have said that “Killing Eve” star Jodi Comer and “New Mutants” actor Anya Taylor-Joy were being considered for the role, but given Miller is still auditioning actors, one has to wonder if he’s potentially looking for an unknown and or still searching for the right fit. Miller’s upcoming movie. “Three Thousand Years Of Longing,” stars Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, and just today, it was announced the romantic drama ha been acquired by MGM. That was supposed to shoot this summer, but Coronavirus has been a curveball. Don’t expect production on ‘Furiosa’ to start anytime soon given the aforementioned film that needs to be completed first.