The Mad Max spinoffFuriosa has been delayed a full year to 2024. Director George Miller is slated to direct the spinoff, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. The film is expected to dive into the backstory of Furiosa, the character introduced in Mad Max: Fury Road and played by Charlize Theron. Taylor-Joy will portray the titular character, whose performance in Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho was said to inspire George Miller to cast her.
Miller began the Mad Max franchise in 1979 with Mel Gibson in the lead role of Max Rockatansky, a former Australian police officer out for revenge against a rebel gang in a post-apocalyptic world. Miller made three more Mad Max films, including Mad Max 2 in 1981, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome in 1985, and then Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015, which recast the lead role of Max with Tom Hardy.
The spinoff prequel Furiosa was originally slated to debut on June 6, 2023, but WB has announced that the film will now bow on May 24, 2024, pushing the film back almost a full year. Miller is still on board to direct and the cast of Taylor-Joy, Hemsworth, and Abdul-Mateen II are still listed for the film, so nothing has changed on that front. Director George Miller has teased a number of Mad Max projects since Fury Road was released, including a follow-up sequel with Tom Hardy, but has opted to direct the Furiosa project first.