After the disappointment ofBeyond Thunderdome, it seemed for years like theMad Maxfranchise was dead in the water. A fourth movie languished in development hell, plagued by setbacks, and it didn’t seem likeMax Rockatansky’s on-screen adventureswould ever continue. Then, against all odds, in 2015, George Miller blessed moviegoers withMad Max: Fury Road, a reboot that successfully reinvigorated the franchise and renewed interest in its post-apocalyptic fictional universe.
Although a direct sequel toFury Roadhas been stalled, Miller ishard at work on a prequel moviestarring Anya Taylor-Joy that will flesh out the backstory of Charlize Theron’s ass-kicking heroine Furiosa. This prequel has the opportunity to establish aMad Maxcinematic universe with a grittier, more visceral R-rated alternative to Marvel’s family-friendly actioners.
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After the firstMad Maxmovie took place in a bleak near-future that was somewhat recognizable,The Road Warriormade the leap into a post-apocalyptic wasteland in the distant future. The movies are so great that audiences have been willing to let any inconsistencies slide, but if the Furiosa prequel sets out to expand the franchise’s reach, it’ll need to clear up some of the shakier worldbuilding to create opportunities for more spin-offs.
Around the timeFury Roadhit theaters, a fan theory circulated around that the Max played by Tom Hardy was actually “the feral kid” fromThe Road Warriorall grown up and inspired by Mel Gibson’s Max to take his name and help people. Miller personally debunked this theory, but it is an interesting idea to explore the future of this world and the knock-on effect of the legendary adventures of Gibson’s Max. Since Miller said the fan theory about “the feral kid” is incorrect and thatHardy’s Max is the same character as Gibson’s Max, the door is wide open for a renowned action filmmaker with a penchant for practical effects and an affinity forThe Road Warriorto tell that kid’s story.
There could even be a movie from the perspective of one of the series’ classic gas-guzzling villains. As it stands, there are a couple of holes in theMad Maxmythology. It’s supposedly a world in which resources like gasoline are in short supply and people are being slaughtered for them, but everybody drives everywhere. In order to track people down and kill them for gas, they waste a ton of gas engaging them in a car chase. More spin-offs like the Furiosa prequel could fill in the gaps in the franchise’s mythos.
WhileBeyond Thunderdomewas a generally disappointing movie, the titular concept was an interesting one. The idea of a gladiatorial arena in a dystopian future in which people fight to the death for the amusement of desert scavengers is primed to be a gritty sci-fi thriller with plenty of social commentary.Beyond Thunderdomebungled it with its very ‘80s execution, but there’s enough promise in the concept for a modern filmmaker to revisit it and tell a new story set around it.
After expanding theMad Maxfranchise with the Furiosa-centric prequel, Miller should refocus on the mainline movies and get moving on the sequel toFury Roadwith Tom Hardy, reportedly titledMad Max: The Wasteland. Then, other visionary filmmakers can step in and tell their own stories in theMad Maxuniverse. There are plenty of great directors, like Guillermo del Toro, who rank Miller among their influences and theMad Maxmovies among their personal favorites. These are the directors Warner Bros. should be hiring to direct action-packedMad Maxmovies – and, based onWarners’ notorious history of meddling in DC movies, they should leave those directors to do their jobs.
Miller can remain onboard any potential spin-offs as a producer. TheMad Maxfranchise is his baby, after all. Whereas Disneycut out George Lucasentirely after purchasing Lucasfilm and charging ahead with theStar Warssaga, Miller would retain creative control of theMad Maxfranchise (albeit marred by tensions with Warner Bros.) and take on an advisory position on other directors’Mad Maxspin-offs.
Whatever happens, everyMad Maxmovie should follow Miller’s process forFury Road. Miller didn’t write a properly formatted script and instead used storyboards as a script in order to tell the story as visually as possible. This process resulted in a movie with wall-to-wall action that doesn’t allow a frame to go by without giving the audience new information.Fury Roadseta very high benchmark for this franchise.
The world in which theMad Maxmovies take place is a rich universe full of untapped potential. Future movies could flesh out the society ofMad Max’s future and venture into other genres with a spaghetti western set in a barren post-apocalyptic wasteland or even a brutal heist movie set in Max’s lawless world. Since Miller has played more fast and loose with the rules of his lore than other fictional universe architects like J.R.R. Tolkien or George Lucas, the sky is the limit for other filmmakers to swoop in with their own vision for aMad Maxmovie. The Furiosa prequel is certainly exciting –Miller has an almost spotless track recordand Taylor-Joy is one of the greatest actors working today – but it could just be the beginning.
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