Mad Max 5, which would be the long-awaited sequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, is on the way. George Miller revealed the news in a recent interview. Over the summer, the director teased that there were possibly two sequels on the way, tentatively titled Wasteland and Furiosa. However, we haven’t heard much news since then, leaving many to believe that the long-awaited project wasn’t happening any more. Miller is currently in the early stages of development on the project.
Before work can begin on a new Mad Max movie, George Miller needs to make Three Thousand Years of Longing with Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton. Production is set to begin in March and then work will begin on Mad Max 5. It’s not clear what the new movie will be about. Miller had this to say about it when asked for a status report.
“I’m not done with the Mad Max story and I think you have to be a multi-tasker and there’s certainly another Mad Max coming down the pike after this. We’re in preparation on that as well. It’s an interesting question, the idea of multi-tasking. I discuss this with other filmmakers and I think what happens to me is that when you’re working on one thing, and you get so distracted and focused on that one thing, it’s like a creative holiday to focus on the other one for a bit. It helps you achieve that objectivity, to look at the thing afresh each time and say, I thought I was doing this, but it doesn’t seem to be the case now.”
As reported over the summer, the Mad Max: Fury Road sequel is on the way, but it will be a while before we get a chance to see it. With that being said, fans of the last movie will be in for some surprises when all is said and done since George Miller will be in the middle of some multitasking. The director believes that the more different the projects are, the better they both end up coming out. He explains.
“The more different the films are, the more interesting that is. A really good example: I was working on Happy Feet Two while Fury Road was getting up and then falling down. They couldn’t have been more different. One was animation, the other live-action. It worked for me.”
George Miller also expressed interest in bringing back the mutant guitar virtuoso from Mad Max: Fury Road. The character is called a Coma-Doof Warrior in the movie and he was visibly striking to audiences when he was introduced on the screen. Miller even has a backstory for the character, which could be fleshed out in the future. Miller had this to say.
“I would like to think he’s still alive, somehow. In fact, we’ve got a whole backstory on how he came to be in that position. I often think about it. The approach to the film was, you have to be able to explain everything. Not only all the characters, but every object, how it all found its way into this world and how it survived. In his case, he was blind from birth. When things started going a bit crazy, he and his mother were left in a mining town. The only way they could survive was to go into a place where there was a competitive advantage to being blind. And that was to go deep down into a mine shaft where they were able to survive. He took what was most precious to him, a musical instrument, probably a guitar.”
While it may be a while before we see one or more sequels to Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller is intent on making it happen and has already started development on at least one of them. The franchise is still going strong and there is a lot of interest in the sequels after all of these years. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another 20 years to hit theaters. The interview with George Miller was originally conducted by Deadline.
