When George Miller announced that the highly anticipated follow-up to Mad Max: Fury Road would be a prequel that stars a younger version of the breakout character Furiosa, fans were left scratching their heads when they learned this new Furiosa would not be played by Charlize Theron whose performance is easily one of the biggest pop culture phenomenons of the 2010s.
However, in a new interview with Josh Horowitz after this year’s virtual New York Comic-Con, Miller opened up about his thought process for what would happen after the events of Fury Road, and it may explain why the visionary director is going the prequel route for next installment. According to Miller, Furiosa only had two possible outcomes if you follow the traditional Joseph Campbell story structure. She could create a utopia in the aftermath of the first film, which Miller basically says would be pretty boring and also unlikely. He sees Furiosa taking a darker turn. Via The Hollywood Reporter:
“Campbell said that the usual story is that today’s hero becomes tomorrow’s tyrant. The hero is the agent of change. They basically relinquish self-interest in order for some common good,” said Miller. “[Campbell] basically says … you love what you’ve built, or saved, too much. You become holdfast. You become the orthodoxy. You develop the dogma and basically then you have to protect it. That tends to be the rhythm of these things.”
Before all hope is lost and it seems like Miller has written off the future of his beloved character, he does posit that she is “too smart to fall into that trap.” But if a sequel where Furiosa battles against forces pushing her to become a tyrant sounds pretty awesome and a natural progression for a next film, you’re not alone in that train of thought. Theron recently voiced her disappointment that she was being bumped out of the franchise for a younger take.
“It’s a tough one to swallow,” she admitted to THR at beginning of July. “I really love that character, and I’m so grateful that I had a small part in creating her. She will forever be someone I think of and reflect on fondly. Obviously, I would love to see that story continue, and if he feels like he has to go about it this way, then I trust him in that manner.”
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)