Furiosa: Chris Hemsworth on Warlord Dementus: “He’s a pretty horrible individual”

Chris Hemsworth doesn’t often play villains, but he’ll get to scratch that itch in a big way with Warlord Dementus in George Miller’s upcoming Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Hemsworth told Empire that Dementus is “a pretty horrible individual,” but like all great villains, he doesn’t think of himself that way. “Through the whole film we kept coming back to, ‘This is evil, but what is the intention behind it?’ It’s not just sadistic insanity,” Hemsworth said. “There is a real purpose, the wheels are turning, he’s plotting and planning and ten steps ahead of everyone else.” He added that the character even sees himself as a father figure to Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy): “I think there’s a paternal quality and nature to the relationship in his eyes. [Furiosa] would, I’m sure, argue to her death the complete opposite.“

Empire also dropped a new image from the film, featuring Warlord Dementus flanked by a variety of citizens of the wasteland.

Chris Hemsworth has stated that playing Dementus in Furiosa has been the best experience of his career. “I came into that film exhausted. I thought, ‘How am I going to get through this?’” Hemsworth said. “Week one of rehearsals with [Miller], all of a sudden it was this reigniting of my creative energy.” The actor said the production of Furiosa was “by far the best experience of my career, and something I feel the most proud of. It made me think, the work isn’t what’s exhausting it’s what kind of work it is, and how invested I am in it and if it is challenging in the right way.“

The official synopsis for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: “As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and 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. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.” The first reactions to a recent test screening of Furiosa were reportedly quite positive, and there have also been rumblings that we should be seeing a second trailer quite soon.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will hit theaters on May 24th.