At 70 years young and after helming the rip-roaring masterpiece that is Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller would be forgiven for wanting to take his foot off the pedal to make the sequel fans have been pining for: Happy Feet 3. Kidding aside, the Australian maestro has reflected on the immediate future of his rejuvenated franchise, and in particular the fate of one Imperator Furiosa.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Miller touched base on the proposition of welcoming Charlize Theron back into the role as the one-armed, kingdom-shaking badass, all the while teasing the “incredibly rich” backstory of Furiosa as a character. But before that, the director cautioned that his next project will likely be some form of low-key palette cleanser before braving the sun-scorched plains of the Wasteland once more.
I’m not sure if it’s the very next movie I want to do. I’ve got something a bit smaller before we go back out into the wasteland … Something more performance-based and so on, just to clear the exhaust.
When Miller eventually does return to the Mad Max series, though, the possibility of a Furiosa spinoff is certainly not off the table. We already know that Warner Bros. has locked down Tom Hardy for another three movies beyond Fury Road, but will the studio be as successful with Theron? Time will tell. As for now, here’s the director’s two cents on her beloved character.
“Yeah, she’s a pretty compelling character so it would be great to tell her story. We only allude to it in this movie because this movie is on the run; people don’t have much time for recreational talk. But you pick up, you have a sense of her having gone through stuff. That’s what the film is trying to do. You’re trying to put a lot of iceberg under the tip, I like saying.”
Mad Max: Fury Road has been nominated for two Golden Globe awards – Best Drama and Best Director – and you can tune in to see whether Miller and Co. emerge victorious on Sunday, January 10.