Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is one of the most anticipated films of the year. For fans of director George Miller and the franchise, it’s one of the most anticipated films of the decade. It’s been nine years since fans were last treated to the carnage and car crashes of the Mad Max universe, and the fact that the new film is a prequel to the events of Fury Road has raised lots of narrative questions.
Fans can ascertain, for example, that the titular character survives to overthrow Immortan Joe in the aforementioned Fury Road (that’s not really negotiable). The exciting part is that the rest of the characters we meet in Furiosa are brand new, so anything goes. Tragedy certainly awaits them all, but George Miller is such a master practitioner that ‘s it’s impossible to predict how or when the tragedies will occur. For those who want to know ahead of time, though, you’ve come to the right place.
MASSIVE SPOILERS ahead for the ending of Furiosa.
Furiosa is desperate to return to her home
Furiosa and Mad Max: Fury Road are linked by a common goal. In both films, Furiosa is trying to escape the clutches of the power-hungry men around her and return to her home, also known as the Green Place. As a girl, she was taken from the Green Place and forced to watch as the ruthless warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) murdered her mother. She spent her formative years in the Citadel, watching as Demetrius and his Biker Horde wreaked havoc on those who were lesser than them.
Once Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) is old enough, however, she hatches a plan with her confidante, Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), to escape the Citadel and return back to the Green Place. She also wants to take vengeance against Dementus for what he did to her mother. Unfortunately, things don’t go according to plan. Dementus executes a siege on Bullet Town, killing Praetorian Jack and capturing Furiosa. She manages to escape, but not without losing her arm in the process (hence the mechanical limb she sports in Fury Road).
Trapped between a rock and hard place, Furiosa teams up Dementus’ sworn enemy, Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), to take him down. She divulges Dementus’ plan to the future warlord, which leads to the Biker Horde losing all power. The final act sees a hardened Furiosa track down Dementus, and exact the vengeance she’s long dreamed about.
Furiosa’s decisions set up Mad Max: Fury Road
The ending of Furiosa is not as triumphant as that of Mad Max: Fury Road, but it’s by design. This is not a story of success, but rather grim acceptance and survival. The film also makes a bold move by pivoting to a narrator, and playing up the notion of “myth” within the world of the franchise. The narrator lists off the various rumors about what Furiosa did to Dementus, like torture him and shoot him, but the narrator claims something far more fitting occurred.
Instead of killing Dementus, Furiosa decided to use his body as a memorial to her mother. She planted the seed her mother saved from the Green Place in the warlord’s body, which then spent years spawning fruit. When the fruit was finally ready to pick and consume, Furiosa took it and shared it with the young women whom she is watching over in Fury Road. Full circle.
Furiosa effectively created the world that Mad Max enters in the 2015 film. Her decision to team up with Immortan Joe doomed her for the next several decades, and her quest for freedom led to the death of her loved ones and the loss of her arm. In the end, though, the character prevailed. Furiosa, the film and the character, ends with a reminder that victories are worth fighting for, no matter how long that fight lasts.
