Charlize Theron opens up about Anya Taylor-Joy taking up the Furiosa mantle in ‘Mad Max’ prequel

Charlize Theron made us all want to go out and shave our heads following her role as Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. The actress played the battle-scarred warrior set on freeing the wives from their caged lives in a much more feminist take on the franchise. The film went down exceedingly well with audiences and critics, and now a prequel titled after the character, is in the works, though Theron is no longer in the driver’s seat as the character.

The role of a younger version of Furiosa will be played by Hollywood star Anya Taylor-Joy. The actress has been making quite a name for herself in the last decade, with her breakout role in the Netflix series, The Queen’s Gambit launching her into mega-stardom. Much like Theron, she also has a rather distinctive look, and though the actresses are certainly not duplicates of one another, we can see Taylor-Joy making a very convincing younger version of Theron’s character (we wonder if the younger actress will also sport the buzzcut).

At the premiere of her most recent film Fast X held at the Colosseum in Rome, Theron spoke about welcoming Taylor-Joy to the Mad Max family. The action star told Entertainment Tonight that she hasn’t had a huge amount of interaction with Taylor-Joy, saying, “I met her years ago and I haven’t really been around her at a function or anything like that.” Despite not having really communicated about the role, Theron feels her character is in good hands, saying “I can’t think of a better actress” to take up the mantle.

Even if the two never do get in contact, Theron is sure that Taylor-Joy will do a fab job. “I think she’s going to be totally OK. Without talking to me, she’s going to be absolutely fine,” she told the publication. Production has already ended on Furiosa with Taylor-Joy celebrating wrapping up her scenes back in October of 2022. The production, one of Australia’s most expensive films to date, hit some sticky spots and had to be put on hold when returning director George Miller contracted COVID-19 back in August.

Starring alongside Taylor-Joy will be Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Nathan Jones, and Angus Sampson. Aside from that, not much is known about what to expect from the film, though we still have some time to wait before we can get a look with the release date set for May 24, 2024, more than a year away.