‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ May Not Have Been Furiosa’s First Appearance

Mad Max: Fury Road delivered the goods for many moviegoers, judging from its $375 million global box office take [via Box Office Mojo], and one of its most popular additions was the strong feminist character Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron).

Theron wasn’t just a supporting player in this road war drama. She shared top billing, as it would turn out, with Tom Hardy, the new Mad Max, and some even feel like she upstaged him.

It was a fine introduction of the character — or was it?

Apparently, the roots of Furiosa go back further than Mad Max: Fury Road to the second film in the series, The Road Warrior.

In a recent interview with Deadline (through Yahoo!), franchise creator-writer-director George Miller admits that the concept of Furiosa did not start in this, the fourth film in the franchise.

In fact, she was originally played by a woman named Virginia Hey. (Sort of.)

You can check her out here as “Warrior Woman” in the 1982 follow-up.

“Yes, you know, way back in Mad Max 2: Road Warrior, there was a female warrior woman, and she died in the final chase. She only appeared for a relatively short time, played by Virginia Hey, and I was always interested in that character.”

“One thing we had to really understand is how every object, or every fragment of language, or every gesture, how it survived the apocalypse, because everything is found objects repurposed. So I was very interested to see how a woman, a female, would survive in this world. That carried and grew up out of that idea and it particularly had to be one who was a hardcore road warrior.”

Going from what Miller has to say here, Furiosa and Warrior Woman aren’t exactly one and the same, but they do share more than just a passing connection.

Hey’s character was the test to see if George Miller could bring more feminism into subsequent entries, and thus far, it has paid off extremely well.

The character has been embraced by both old school Mad Max fans and a new spate of female admirers. There is even some talk, according to Deadline, of Oscar in the film’s future.

What many are finding admirable about the film is how Miller was able to balance the rugged tough guy qualities and screen time of Max with a self-sufficient bruiser feminist, who was fully fleshed out and ready for battle.

And while Furiosa met almost the same fate of Warrior Woman, it looks like she will be around for not one, but possibly two more Mad Max features.

According to a past Inquisitr report, Miller prepped Fury Road with the idea that it would kick off a trilogy of new films. Tom Hardy is signed on to reprise his role in each, and Theron is also slated to return for at least one of those outings.

If you haven’t checked out Mad Max: Fury Road at this time, then you really do need to get caught up. Here’s the trailer.

Good news for fans of the franchise by the way. Next up on Miller’s resume is Mad Max: The Wasteland, which he confirms to Deadline will likely not be called The Wasteland.

In other words, you will not have to wait long to see what the Oscar-winning director of Happy Feet has in store for his darker post-apocalyptic world.

What did you think about the fourth entry in the Mad Max series, readers, and are you ready for more Furiosa? Sound off in the comments section!

[Image via Mad Max: Fury Road screen grab]