Summary
The box office disappointment ofFuriosa: A Mad Max Sagahas put plans for the next entry in danger, but George Miller could save it if he resurrects his original plan for the 2024 prequel. Following the thirdMad Maxmoviein 1985, Miller had little interest in revisiting his high-octane saga. He moved on to other projects, but after short-lived discussions about a potentialMad MaxTV series in the 1990s, the concept behindFury Roadcame to him. He suddenly got very excited about returning, thoughMad Max: Fury Road’stortured development has become the stuff of legend.
Miller and his crew had years to develop the world and lore behindFury Road, to the point where they developed two other scripts. BothFuriosaandThe Wastelandserve as prequels toMad Max: Fury Road, detailing what Charlize Theron’s Imperator and Tom Hardy’s Road Warrior were doingbeforetheir bumpy road trip. Nearly a decade on fromFury Road’srelease,Furiosaopened to poor box office numbersdespite largely positive reviews. In the aftermath of the prequel’s performance, there is concern that the series could be finished.
Furiosa nearly saw life as an anime spinoff during the 2010s
This means Miller’s planned follow-upMad Max: The Wastelandwon’t happen. In a 2024 interview withForbes, Hardy himself cast doubt on the film, stating plainly “I don’t think that’s happening.“Furiosajust about covered its reported production budget with its $172.7 million box office haul, which is a disappointing result by any measure. One direction Miller could take withThe Wastelandis turning it into an anime instead, which was the original plan forFuriosaearly in development.
During the early 2010s, Miller planned to shootFuriosaandMax Max: Fury Roadback to back, but he dropped that notion during pre-production.Miller then mountedFuriosaas an anime, with Mahiro Maeda (The Animatrix) as directorof the project. Extensive concept art was drawn up for this animated adventure, but it was scrapped due toFury Road’sever-fluctuating production schedule. It’s easy to see why this original plan was considered sincethe aesthetic of Miller’s most recentMad Maxadventures would be a great fit for anime; this is also why Miller should reconsider it forThe Wasteland.
It’s unlikely Warner Bros will be greenlighting The Wasteland anytime soon, but making an anime movie would be cheaper to produce but wouldn’t force Miller to compromise his vision.
If he wanted to bring back Hardy to voice Max, this would also bypass the age issue.Mad Max: The Wastelandis a prequel toFury Road, yet Hardy shot the latter in 2012. It would be hard to convince viewers outside of some CGI de-aging - a technique Miller is not a fan of - that Hardy is a younger version of Max, but that wouldn’t be an issue with an anime. It’s unlikely Warner Bros will be greenlightingThe Wastelandanytime soon, but making an anime movie would be cheaper to produce but wouldn’t force Miller to compromise his vision.
Why The Furiosa Anime Was Cancelled
Miller retains tight creative control overMad Max, explaining the limited amount of merchandise or offshoots like comics that have been spun off from it. Again, the property feels like a perfect match for anime, which is why an animatedFuriosacame so close to existing. Sadly,a delay in filming forFury Roadmeant the anime tie-in was canceled. When remounting it as a live-action movie, the story was already largely mapped out thanks to the work done on the anime. Even design elements created for the unmade animated feature were repurposed for the 2024 version.
Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus always carrying a teddy bear is one design holdover fromFuriosa’sdevelopment as an anime.
The artwork for the anime gives an intriguing alternate look at how the story would have played out too. It would have made for a fascinating companion toMad Max: Fury Road, though in hindsight, maybe it was best to let audiences imagine what Furiosa’s backstory was in the immediate aftermath of the movie’s release.Charlize Theron claimed reading theFuriosascript was incredibly helpful for getting into the character’s mindset, and the eventual film did a great job of fleshing out the world even further.
Furiosamay have had a disappointing box office haul, but it has been performing well on VOD. Overall, the prequel willstillbe labeled a flop, and Miller once saidMad Max: The Wastelanddepended on how wellFuriosaperformed. Warner Bros will be in no rush to make another entry, and realistically, the prequel could be the end of the franchise on the big screen for the foreseeable future. PerhapsMiller could work from a smaller budget forThe Wasteland, or even remount the project as a miniseriesinstead.
All Battles In The Wasteland In Mad Max, Explained
The Mad Max franchise has a lot of lore, and here are the battles and wars that led to the apocalypse and the ones that occurred after.
After all,Furiosais divided into five chapters, which easily could have been TV episodes in themselves.TurningMad Max: The Wastelandinto an anime feature or TV series are viable options too, but there probably won’t be any major announcements about the franchise’s future anytime soon. Still, if the last audiences see of Max chronologically is him nodding goodbye to Theron’sFuriosa, that feels like an oddly poignant way to sign off.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Cast
A prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is an action-adventure film that tells the origin story of the headstrong and fearless Furiosa. Set shortly after the beginning of the “end of the world,” Furiosa is kidnapped and brought before a powerful warlord, now forced to work for him. To find her way back home, Furiosa will adapt to the new harsh and arid world as she grows into the Furiosa she becomes known to be.
