Furiosa May Not Appear in Future ‘Mad Max’ Sequels, Says George Miller

To say that Charlize Theron’s stone-cold badass Imperator Furiosa stole scenes in the spring’s white-knuckle action flick Mad Max: Fury Road would be a gross disservice; the scenes belong completely to her, and as Max Rockatansky, Tom Hardy’s really just along for the ride to look pretty and provide a shoulder so that she may steady her aim while sniping. In all fairness, the film could’ve just as easily been titled Imperator Furiosa: Fury Road, but then the word “fury” kind of would’ve been in there twice, and there’s no way Warner Bros. was passing up that sweet, sweet brand-recognition cash.

But a new interview between the madman behind Mad Max George Miller and Cinema Blend has revealed a few surprising insights for the slew of upcoming sequels that the success of Fury Road rendered all but inevitable. Most notable among them, the bespectacled Miller stated that he was “not sure” that Furiosa would reappear in any Mad Maxes to come. Miller’s direct quote, via Cinema Blend:

She’s 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.

That little bit about the film being “in progress” should auto-hedge any and all bets for the future of the franchise, though Miller’s diplomatically evasive language suggests that perhaps the fan-favorite character may appear in flashback. The interview yielded a few other key tidbits, from Miller’s tamping-down of the rumor that the next entry in the series would be subtitled The Wasteland (“…that was just a working title.”) to his promise that his next film would be a decidedly less fanatical undertaking.

Miller said to Cinema Blend that “I hope the next film I make is a very small without any special effects and not many stunts.” Which, all things considered, doesn’t necessarily rule out another Mad Max! The characters can’t possibly spend all day, every day strapped into death-defying harnesses or totaling war rigs that look like they just came from eating Paris. Maybe Mad Max: The Fifth One shows Rockatansky on his off days, reading the post-apocalyptic newspaper or going to the post-apocalyptic supermarket. Maybe the flashback sequence shows him and Furiosa playing cards, or trying to find a Wi-Fi signal in the bombed-out remnants of human civilization. It is a testament to the utmost confidence that Miller earned with Fury Road that most audiences would watch Mad Max: Doing Regular Stuff regardless. It’d probably be great, too.