Snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers, young Furiosa falls into the hands of a great biker horde led by the warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel, presided over by the Immortan Joe. As the two tyrants fight for dominance, Furiosa soon finds herself in a nonstop battle to make her way home.
Release date: May 23, 2024 (Australia)
Director: George Miller
Budget: 168 million USD
Sequel: Mad Max: Fury Road
Distributed by: Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Pictures
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a 2024 Australian[5 post-apocalyptic action film directed and produced by George Miller, who wrote the screenplay with Nico Lathouris. It is the fifth installment in the Mad Max franchise, serving as both a prequel and spin-off to Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), and focuses on the Fury Road character Imperator Furiosa. The film stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Alyla Browne as younger versions of Furiosa (originally portrayed by Charlize Theron), alongside Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke.
Set 15 to 20 years before the events of Fury Road, in a desert wasteland where warlords fight over the last remaining sources of water, food, weapons, and gasoline, Furiosa traces the young title character’s life from her kidnapping by the forces of warlord Dementus (Hemsworth) to her revenge on the warlord for the loss of her mother. For over a decade, she struggles to survive as a slave and, eventually, a trusted lieutenant of the Citadel’s cult leader, Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), and his military commander Praetorian Jack (Burke).
Miller initially intended to shoot Furiosa back-to-back with Fury Road, but the former spent several years in development hell amidst salary disputes with Warner Bros. Pictures, Fury Road’s distributor. Several crew members from Fury Road returned for Furiosa, including composer Tom Holkenborg, costume designer Jenny Beavan, editor Margaret Sixel (Miller’s wife), and screenwriter Lathouris. Filming took place in Australia from June to October 2022.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on 15 May 2024. It was released in theatres in Australia by Warner Bros. on 23 May 2024, and in the United States the following day. The film received positive reviews from critics, but its $119 million box office draw in its first two weeks has been described as an underperformance.
Chapter I: The Pole of Inaccessibility
In a dystopian future, Australia is a radioactive wasteland and the Green Place of Many Mothers is one of the last remaining areas with fresh water and agriculture. Raiders discover the Green Place while two children, Furiosa and Valkyrie, are picking peaches. Furiosa tries to sabotage their motorcycles, but the raiders capture her as a prize for their leader, Dementus of the Biker Horde. Furiosa’s mother Mary pursues them to the Horde’s camp, killing all but one raider. The last raider delivers Furiosa to Dementus, but Furiosa mortally wounds him before he can reveal the Green Place’s location.
Mary sneaks into the camp and rescues Furiosa, but Dementus tracks them down. The mother stays back to buy Furiosa time to escape and gives her a peach pit to remember her by, but Furiosa refuses to leave Mary. Dementus forces Furiosa to watch her mother’s crucifixion. Haunted by the death of his family, he adopts Furiosa as his daughter, hoping that she will lead him to the Green Place. Furiosa tattoos a star chart to the Green Place on her left arm to find her way home.
Chapter II: Lessons from the Wasteland
Dementus besieges the Citadel, another Wasteland settlement with fresh water and agriculture. However, the Horde is repelled by the War Boys, the fanatical army of Citadel warlord Immortan Joe. Dementus changes course, using a Trojan Horse strategy to capture Gastown, an oil refinery that supplies the Citadel with gasoline. At peace negotiations, Joe recognizes Dementus’s authority over Gastown and increases its supplies of food and water in exchange for the Horde’s physician and Furiosa.
At the Citadel, Joe imprisons Furiosa in his vault with his stable of “wives”. After Joe’s son Rictus shows an attraction to her, she devises a plan to escape. One night, Rictus breaks Furiosa out of the vault to sexually assault her. She slips from his grasp using a wig made from her own hair, and disappears.
Chapter III: The Stowaway
Disguised as a mute teenage boy, Furiosa works her way up the ranks of Joe’s men for over a decade. She helps build the “War Rig”, a heavily-armed supply tanker that can withstand raider attacks in the lawless Wasteland. She plans to escape by hiding a motorcycle on the Rig when Joe sends his top driver, Praetorian Jack, on a supply run.
Due to Dementus’s callousness, his disillusioned lieutenant, The Octoboss, goes rogue and launches an air assault on the Rig. His Mortiflyers massacre the Rig’s entire crew, but Furiosa and Jack team up to defeat them. Furiosa tries to carjack the Rig and drive home, but Jack easily thwarts her. However, he recognizes her potential and offers to train her to escape if she helps him rebuild his crew. Furiosa becomes Jack’s second-in-command and is promoted to Praetorian.
Chapter IV: Homeward
Furiosa and Jack bond and resolve to escape together. They see an opportunity when Joe decides to attack Gastown, as Dementus has nearly ruined the refinery with his mismanagement. Joe orders Furiosa and Jack to collect weapons and ammunition from the Bullet Farm, an allied mining facility. However, Dementus ambushes them when they arrive. Furiosa and Jack barely escape, and Furiosa’s left arm is severely injured. Dementus chases them down and tortures Jack to death. Furiosa escapes her chains by severing her own injured arm, sacrificing her star map to escape. A loner[a watches from afar as Furiosa struggles back to the Citadel, where she helps Joe plan the war with Dementus. Aided by her advice, the War Boys crush the Horde.
Chapter V: Beyond Vengeance
Having lost her path home, Furiosa shaves her head again, replaces her arm with a mechanical prosthetic, and pursues the fleeing Dementus. After an extended chase, she captures him in the desert. Dementus taunts her, saying revenge will not make her whole. In a voiceover, the narrator claims that Furiosa imprisoned Dementus at the Citadel and used his living body as fertilizer to grow a peach tree from her mother’s seed.
For her services, Joe promotes Furiosa to “Imperator” and gives her command of a new War Rig. She eventually meets Joe’s five remaining wives in the vault where Joe once held her prisoner. The night before another supply run, the “Five Wives” hide in Furiosa’s Rig.[b
