It is not far-fetched to say that the Mad Max franchise is among the most unconventional and polarizing movie franchises in history. George Miller’s take on a post-apocalyptic world run by false prophets, bandits and cannibals have wowed audiences since the first film was released all the way back in 1979, and with a proposed new film titled ‘The Wasteland’ rumored to be in development on and off, let's take a peek into this franchise and see how and when Mad Max: The Wasteland movie might hit theatres.
There have been a total of five Mad Max films till now, all of them directed by George Miller. The first three were released between 1979 and 1985, and are a self-contained trilogy starring Mel Gibson as Max. Each of the three films was commercially successful, cementing Miller as a viable filmmaker who could take unique scripts and turn them into box office gold. However, this trilogy was always a niche property; a low-budget post-apocalyptic story that never really found mainstream appeal. Miller would then go on to tackle other genres whilst quietly developing another Mad Max feature.
After redefining the action genre with his original Mad Max trilogy from the 80s, George Miller returned to the franchise and did it again with 2015’s Mad Max entry, Fury Road. Considering his resume, the studio handed him a hefty budget for this new entry, and the result was nothing short of spectacular. With more than 30 years passing between 1985’s Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and Fury Road, nobody expected Fury Road to be as great as it was. But Miller not only hit it out of the park, he rewrote the action movie conventions as a whole. Fury Road was a great success (for an R-rated film) at the box office and even won six Academy Awards. Talks of a sequel, tentatively titled the Wasteland, began soon after.
As Tom Hardy was contractually obligated to return for three more Mad Max films after Fury Road, everyone expected the sequel to involve him in some capacity. Fury Road’s stratospheric success had emboldened Miller who declared that there were a lot of more Mad Max films to come and the first would be a direct prequel called The Wasteland. Although this was a working title, The Wasteland would focus on Max the year before he was captured by Immortan Joe’s men (which was the start of Fury Road). Charlize Theron’s Furiosa was not expected to return, and Miller hoped he would get the screenplay ready pretty soon.
As time passed, legal troubles began between Miller and the studio over unpaid profits from Fury Road. These would take some time to amicably resolve, and the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 further delayed whatever plans Miller had, forcing him to amend what he wanted the franchise to become. Instead of developing Fury Road sequels, he would set his sights on two prequels, one featuring Max and the other featuring Charlize Theron’s Furiosa. While Max had been the main character of Fury Road, audiences had especially loved the feisty badass played by Theron.
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To capitalize on audience interest in Furiosa, Miller chose to tackle the Furiosa prequel first. Although female-led action films rarely work, Miller’s home run on Fury Road meant everyone was on board with this idea despite the risks involved. Theron was briefly considered to reprise her role using de-aging technology, but Miller felt the technology hadn't quite caught up to photorealism when it comes to de-aging. As a result, emerging star Anya Taylor-Joy was cast as a younger Furiosa.
A couple of characters from Fury Road return (including Max in a blink-and-you ’ll-miss-it stunt double cameo), and as good as the film was, it was a box office disaster. The fact that there was a gap of nine whole years between Fury Road and Furiosa meant audiences had lost interest long before Furiosa arrived in theatres. In addition, the absence of both Hardy and Theron was also not lost on audiences who had come to love these specific characters from the first film. Losing the studio around $100 million, the failure of Furiosa would have far-reaching consequences for the other Mad Max prequel Miller had been developing.
Needless to say, everyone was disappointed. Hardy was asked about his prequel while he was out promoting ‘The Bikeriders’, and he admitted that he believed the film was on ice. Similarly, Miller also acknowledged that Furiosa’s misfire had messed up his plans for the other Mad Max film that he had written the script for. He would later confirm in February 2025 that, should the studio decide to move forward, he was always ready to dive back into this world. At the end, he cautiously admitted that for now, the project was on hold and he was focusing on completing a couple of other projects that he had set his eyes on.
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To be clear, Miller remains a singularly creative force in the world of action cinema, and both of his recent Mad Max features were very well received. It is only due to Furiosa losing money that we haven't got another Mad Max film yet. In a time where Warner Bros is tightening its belts and looking for a new owner, the people in charge will be hard-pressed to spend another $100 million or so on a new George Miller extravaganza. Although we know the film will be undoubtedly awesome, no franchise can move forward if its entries fail to make money. Thus, we hope and pray we might get another Mad Max film, but right now, the chances of that happening are pretty much close to zero.
