George Miller on His Planned 'Mad Max' Sequels — and How the Doof Warrior Could Return
Mad Max: Fury Road wasn’t just a triumphant return to post-apocalyptic action for director George Miller, who hadn’t concocted an installment in his sci-fi franchise since 1985’s Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome; it was one of 2015’s best films. Thus there’s considerable demand for more adventures featuring Tom Hardy’s grunting road warrior and Charlize Theron’s fierce Furiosa — and according to Miller, he’s still planning on delivering two more chapters in the revitalized series.
Speaking to the U.K.’s The Independent on the occasion of a one-night-only theatrical showing of Mad Max: Fury Road “Black & Chrome Edition” — a black-and-white version that has already been released stateside on home video — Miller said that, during the long process of getting Fury Road to the screen, he and co-writer Nico Lathouris penned two more scripts:
“We dug down deep into the subtext, the backstory of all the characters, and indeed the world … and without really thinking about it, we wrote two other screenplays just as part of the bible of the stories. Somewhere, if the planets align, there will be two other films.”
The Independent reports that the first of those would be Mad Max: The Wasteland and that Hardy has already committed. Given that they’ll at least partially focus on more of the characters’ history — perhaps with a Furiosa origin story? — the movies would also include the return of some fan favorites, including villain Immortan Joe’s blind, heavy-metal shredding guitarist, the Doof Warrior:
“I know who his mother was. I know how it was that a man who is mute and blind survived the apocalypse. I know his story very well! If we get to make another movie, the Doof Warrior will be there!”
Hardy himself has previously said that he’s gung ho about stepping back into the shoes of Miller’s nomad of few words. As he told Collider in January:
“I’m anxiously waiting to find out. There’s mythology to do with Mad Max that spans copious amounts of tales. What’s wonderful about George [Miller] is that he’s created sagas for Max and sagas for Furiosa, so it’s what he chooses to focus in on. I’m really just waiting for the call like, ‘All right, let’s get the leathers on and get back out there and do some more.’ It’s there. I’m just waiting for it and looking forward to it… Yeah, as far as I’ve signed to do three of them. It’s a question of when. I’m not sure it’s called The Wasteland or not ’cause you never know. These titles change all the time. But, there’s definitely another Mad Max project pending.”
For now, Miller tells The Independent that he’s going to make a smaller project before diving back into the world of Mad Max. But fans can at least be satisfied with the knowledge that someday a sequel might be roaring back into theaters — and the Doof Warrior may ride again.
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