Casting news dropped this week about the new actors and actresses who will be playing the starring roles in George Miller’s much anticipated followup to this 2015 masterpiece Mad Max: Fury Road. Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will be starring in the upcoming film which should be starting production within the next year.
As Variety reports:
“Taylor-Joy will play title role, a younger version of Furiosa. Miller had said in a May interview with The New York Times that he’d been searching for searching for an actress in her 20s to take over the role. He said at the time he had considered using de-aging technology in order to allow Theron — who’s 44 –to play the part again, but has decided against doing so. Taylor-Joy is 24.”
Variety, Dave McNary, October 13, 2020
Anya’s casting is a wonderful choice. She is fresh off of recent films like Split, The Witch, Emma, Last Night in Soho and The Northmen. Hemsworth is also an excellent choice for a leading role but it’s unclear what kind of characters he and Yahya are being cast for.
Miller was signed to a three picture deal alongside Tom Hardy prior to the first film’s completion but the sequel immediately fell into question. A years long legal despute about owed wages from the success of the film caught up both parties in years of litigation. The situation was finally solved in the past year with both parties settling and beginning preproduction on a new Mad Max followup.
Miller is set to direct the follow following a smaller film he was in preproduction on as of the spring of this year. The film, Three Thousand Years of Longing, currently has no release date but will be released by MGM. It stars Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton.
Initially, Miller announced two ideas for followups to the film: a sequel called Mad Max: The Wasteland and a spin-off called Mad Max: Furiosa. It would appear he’s chosen to pursue the latter concept and chose the opportunity to make a Furiosa origin movie with a new cast.
We’ve known since his May interview with The New York Times that Miller was planning to replace Charlie Theron. While it’s possible she may return for the third film produced with Warner Brother, it remains to be seen where the story will go from here.
While it’s unclear at the moment what that movie will look like, the young cast includes several of the most high profile actors working today. Under the hand of George Miller, there is good reason to assume he’ll be turning in another masterpiece.
If the film makes it to theaters by 2022, George Miller will be 77 at the time to release.
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