Furiosa: Mackenzie Davis really wanted to star in the Mad Max prequel

George Miller will be returning to the wasteland once again with Furiosa, a prequel to Mad Max: Fury road focusing on a younger version of Charlize Theron’s character. Theron won’t be reprising her role this time around, with Furiosa set to be played by Anya Taylor-Joy (The Northman), but there is one other actor who really wanted to take on the role. While speaking with THR, Mackenzie Davis (Terminator: Dark Fate) said that she would have loved to have played Furiosa in the Mad Max prequel, although she never spoke with George Miller about it.

I should protect myself more here, but I would have loved to. It’s something I probably mentioned in passing to agents. I was just like, “Agh, I would love to do that.” And then it was obviously cast with Anya Taylor-Joy, who is unbelievable, but I definitely was like, “NOOO!!!” (Davis laughs after she yells in frustration.) So I would have loved to do it, but there are lots of good roles.

Mackenzie Davis would definitely have been a good fit for the role of Furiosa and she has a great deal of reverence for Charlie Theron. In fact, Davis would watch a lot of Mad Max: Fury Road in her trailer while she was shooting Terminator: Dark Fate. “I remember watching a lot of action movies, because it wasn’t a form or genre that I’d spent a lot of time with,” Davis said. “So I was just mainlining Fury Road in my trailer, trying to be like, “Alright, this is how you fucking do it.” Because she’s so good. (Laughs.) She’s so good in that movie.” In addition to Anya Taylor-Joy, Furiosa will also star Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke, who was brought in to replace Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

Mackenzie Davis can currently be seen starring in Station Eleven, a post-apocalyptic miniseries on HBO Max based on the novel by Emily St. John Mandel. You can check out a review of Station Eleven from our own Alex Maidy right here. Furiosa was originally set to hit theaters in 2023 but was delayed to May 24, 2024 earlier this year.