Warner Bros. has big plans for its leaner and meaner Mad Max franchise. Beyond the soon-to-be-released Mad Max: Fury Road, the studio has locked down star Tom Hardy for an additional three films in the reinvigorated post-apocalyptic series. However, in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, co-star Charlize Theron – who plays no-nonsense skinhead Furiosa – revealed her apprehension about returning for the confirmed sequels, unless all of the pieces fell into place.
Essentially, Theron’s long-term commitment hinges on whether director George Miller will return to helm future installments; plus, the South African actress is focusing her attention on the release of Fury Road in a few weeks’ time, and the strong female characters it boasts.
“What runs loudly for me is the importance that women have in this world of survival,” Theron said. “I was very happy to be a girl with boobies and to be part of that.”
On the topic of continuing her role as the badass Furiosa: “There’s no part of me that’s like, ‘No fucking way will I ever do that [again].’ But this movie was made, for George, for all the right reasons. Unless that happens again, I wouldn’t trust the process.”
As Theron alluded to, Mad Max: Fury Road will orbit around a group of imprisoned women known as the Five Wives – played here by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Zoë Kravitz, Riley Keough, Courtney Eaton and Abbey Lee – prisoners to the tyrannical Immorten Joe, who Furiosa irks by attempting to rescue his ‘prized assets’ from captivity. Nicholas Hoult and Hugh Keays-Byrne round out the impressive cast list.
Mad Max: Fury Road is slated to arrive on May 15.
Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows.