Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa to be biggest Australian production ever

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Mad Max: Fury Road (watch it HERE) started filming in July 2012 and was released in May 2015, but Warner Bros. is hoping director George Miller will be able to make the prequel Furiosa on a tighter schedule. The film is already set to reach theatres on July 23, 2023, and Miller just held a press conference where he revealed that filming will take place in the Australian state of New South Wales next year.

Furiosa will be the biggest production ever for Australia. New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the film being made there will create 850 jobs and bring $350 million AUD (around $272 million USD) to the local economy.

Great news the Mad Max prequel – Furiosa starring Chris Hemsworth – is being filmed right here in NSW. The biggest ever film to be made in Australia, supporting more than 850 local jobs and bringing in $350 million to the economy. pic.twitter.com/HzZXcqeAUt

— Gladys Berejiklian (@GladysB) April 19, 2021

Miller had been rushing to get a key action sequence shot by the end of the year because there was some fear that there would be a decrease in the New State Wales tax incentive for film productions, but since there isn't going to be a decrease after all he can wait until next year to get it done. Stunts were already prepared and vehicles had already been built for the sequence, but now they have some extra time before they'll be put to use.

Furiosa will star Anya Taylor-Joy as the title character, who was played by Charlize Theron in Fury Road. Since the focus is on a different character, Miller said this will be a "unique" entry in the Mad Max franchise, but will still be familiar to fans.

Taylor-Joy will be joined in the cast by Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Hemsworth joined Miller at the press conference and said that getting the Furiosa job was the 

biggest pinch-myself moment, because I’ve grown up watching it [Mad Max] and it’s so iconic… It is a huge honor. A lot of pressure, but exciting pressure that is certainly motivating."

Miller's production company Kennedy Miller Mitchell filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over an unpaid Fury Road bonus a few years ago, but Miller confirmed that there isn't any bad blood between him and the studio.

Since we started Fury Road I think there’s been six different regimes at Warner Bros. Now it’s stabilized very much and they’re able to basically pay attention coherently to the films they want to make and this is one of them."

We'll keep you updated on Furiosa as Miller continues to prepare for filming. The director is currently in post-production on Three Thousand Years of Longing, a romance drama starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba.