‘Furiosa’: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II to Star in ‘Mad Max’ Spinoff

Warner Bros. and filmmaker George Miller are returning to the world of Mad Max: Fury Road.  

Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will star in Furiosa, a stand-alone action-adventure feature that acts as an origin story for the powerful character first embodied by Charlize Theron in Miller’s Oscar-winning 2015 movie, the studio announced Tuesday.

Although the movie is not greenlit, the castings put the project on the path of getting made after years of anticipation from fans and years of teasing by Miller, who had said he wanted to return to the character and that postapocalyptic world.

Miller will direct, co-write and produce the project, working with longtime producing partner Doug Mitchell and their Australia-based Kennedy Miller Mitchell banner.

The Mad Max movies — initially launched in 1979 with Mel Gibson as the lead, Max Rockatansky — were set in a dystopian society where life is cheap, the vehicles ramshackle, the strong rule the weak, and justice, if it exists, is in your own hands.

After a trio of movies in the 1980s, Miller returned to the world with Fury Road, this time with a young Max played by Tom Hardy and the character of Furiosa, played by Theron. Furiosa proved to be more than Max’s equal, and fans have been clamoring for a stand-alone ever since.

Taylor-Joy will play Furiosa is what is described as her genesis. It is unclear who Hemsworth and Abdul-Mateen II will play.

Also unclear is the timetable for the project, which is described as being in “advance development.” Hemsworth is due to begin shooting Thor: Love and Thunder in January.

Taylor-Joy starred in M. Night Shyamalan’s Split opposite James McAvoy and also appeared in the follow-up, Glass. She recently wrapped shooting Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho and is currently shooting Robert Eggers’ The Northman. Beginning later this month, she can be seen starring as a chess prodigy in miniseries The Queen’s Gambit. 

Hemsworth this year starred in Extraction, which proved to be one of Netflix’s biggest hits so far, while Abdul-Mateen II is currently filming the fourth installment in The Matrix series for Warners and can be seen as historical figure Bobby Seale in The Trial of the Chicago 7. 

Taylor-Joy is repped by CAA, United Agents and Felker Toczek. Hemsworth is repped by CAA and Greenberg Glusker. Abdul-Mateen II is repped by WME, M88 and Ziffren Brittenham.