Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Ending Explained

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Summary Furiosa ends where Fury Road begins, connecting seamlessly.

Furiosa spares Dementus' life, turning him into a peach tree.

The film focuses on hate, while Fury Road centers on hope.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ends where Mad Max: Fury Road begins. Directed by George Miller from a screenplay he wrote with Nico Lathouris, Furiosa features new and familiar characters, and follows the title character’s beginnings. From her childhood through her adulthood, and how it was shaped by the Wasteland and the cruelty of those who reside there. Furiosa reviews have been mostly positive, with praise going to Anya Taylor-Joy’s take on Furiosa and Chris Hemsworth’s villainous turn as Dementus. The film ends with Furiosa escaping Dementus and his men, who dragged Praetorian Jack to his death.

Dementus’ goals were to take over the Wasteland, claiming the Bullet Farm in an attempt to draw Immortan Joe out so that Dementus could claim the Citadel for himself. Furiosa warns Immortan Joe about the plan after escaping the motorbike ring, and his men go to war with Dementus for 40 days. Furiosa creates a new mechanical arm for herself and hunts down Dementus, now isolated from everyone. Furiosa fights Dementus as the rest are warring with each other. He verbally taunts her. Instead of killing him, Furiosa secretly brings Dementus back to the Citadel that goes far beyond revenge.

Furiosa’s Ending Directly Leads Into Mad Max: Fury Road

The film's final moments are scenes pulled from Fury Road

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Rather than give it a separate ending, George Miller ties Furiosa’s ending to Mad Max: Fury Road, with Furiosa shown leading Immortan Joe’s wives to her War Rig, where they hide while Furiosa executes her escape attempt. It’s rare for a prequel to connect so fluidly with its predecessor, but Furiosa not only leads into Mad Max: Fury Road directly, it turns the latter into an epilogue during the credits sequence. Furiosa’s ending essentially serves as a reminder of what happened during the events of Fury Road. By linking one ending to the other’s beginning, Furiosa becomes one seamless story.

Furiosa Turns Dementus Into A Tree From Her Peach Seed

Furiosa only reveals the truth to the History Man

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While Furiosa is believed to have killed Dementus — different stories have different deaths, including a bullet to the head — she smuggled him back to the Citadel and planted her mother’s peach seed in his flesh. Over the years, the tree grew, with Dementus attached to it, forever stuck with no means of escape. Furiosa likely thought this was a better option for Dementus’ fate because he’d brought nothing but death and destruction his whole life, killing Furiosa’s mother, Praetorian Jack, and so many others.

Every Way Dementus "Dies" In Furiosa Furiosa shoots Dementus in the head Furiosa drags Dementus behind her car Furiosa tortures and crucifies him

The fact he’s forever linked to a peach tree allows Dementus to do what he never could — give and nurture life. It’s a form of torture for a man who hated so much during his life. At the same time, Furiosa and Dementus were a lot alike. They were both driven by what they’d lost in life. Furiosa knew that, but by sparing Dementus’ life and planting her mother’s seed in his flesh, she was still protecting the Green Place. She was ensuring Dementus wouldn't be able to find it while showcasing that beauty can grow from something horrible.

Furiosa's revenge doesn't end with Dementus. She also kills Immortan Joe in Mad Max: Fury Road, ripping off his face.

Furiosa’s decision to spare his life goes beyond revenge; she could have easily killed Dementus. In her own way, however, she was proving that she could provide life with the tree, bringing a piece of nature and abundance to a place that didn’t have any. The Dementus tree was also a reminder that things, no matter how bad they are, could start anew in the most unexpected of places. It was a promise Furiosa made to never stop fighting to return to her home despite the horror she’d seen and experienced. Furiosa wouldn’t let herself become as jaded as Dementus.

Furiosa Is About Hate, Fury Road Is About Hope

Furiosa spends much of the movie on the hunt for Dementus

Furiosa and Fury Road contrast each other in terms of themes. Where Fury Road was about hope — for a different, better life, of escaping horrific circumstances, etc. — Furiosa was about hate. Throughout the film, Furiosa couldn’t allow herself to dream; when she had a brief glimmer of hope that she could finally leave (with Jack in tow), it was ripped away from her. For most of the film, Furiosa wanted nothing more than to avenge her mother, and the desire to exact revenge on Dementus only fueled her hatred for him.

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She spent her life passionately hating Dementus, hating her circumstances and the Wasteland, Immortan Joe’s treatment of her and his wives, and likely hating what she had to do to survive. By the events of Fury Road, though, Furiosa had made connections and amassed enough power to pull off a proper plan of escape. She was determined to succeed, and there was actual hope that she would. There were certainly obstacles in her way, but Furiosa felt a bit less despondent in Fury Road. If she didn’t have any hope that things could be different, she wouldn’t have bothered trying.

How Furiosa’s Ending Sets Up Another Mad Max Prequel

Furiosa’s post-credits teases the expansive world of Mad Max

The ending ties directly to Mad Max: Fury Road, but Furiosa’s post-credits scene, a quick glimpse of something wobbling in a car, hints at more to come. The item is part of a vehicle, and though it doesn’t actually feature any of the characters or anything truly significant to the story, it does indicate the Mad Max franchise isn’t over just because Furiosa’s story might be. There are plenty of other characters from Fury Road who could benefit from a prequel, including Nicholas Hoult’s Nux.

Crucially, the film’s ending teases the expansion of the Mad Max movies. If Furiosa can get her own movie, as Miller fleshes out her backstory and what led her to escape Immortan Joe with his wives, it would be interesting to see what else the director can come up with. And while another Mad Max prequel likely depends on how well Furiosa does at the box office, there’s room for more. Since Max and his famous car were glimpsed in the film, it’s possible the next installment will focus on his origin story.

What George Miller Has Said About More Mad Max Movies

While the film is not entirely confirmed, plans for a film titled Mad Max: The Wasteland have been in the works for years. Miller has openly discussed other films in the franchise, though when they’ll be set within the Mad Max movie timeline is unclear. Miller has written backstories for several characters, which is how Furiosa came to be. In terms of Mad Max: The Wasteland, here’s what Miller had to say about it (via Digital Spy):

“I can never predict any one of these. If Furiosa does well enough and we've got the appetite for it, we'll move forward. But at this point, it's way too early.”

Interestingly, Miller wrote a novella about Mad Max ahead of Fury Road. Speaking with Deadline, the director explained that it was just for the actors and crew at the time. Here’s what Miller said about Max Max’s story:

…we wrote the story of Furiosa in the 15 or 16 years of her life before we meet her in Fury Road, we wrote a story about Max in the year before he got there and so on. They ended up being a screenplay and one was a novella.

It seems like the Mad Max novella could be something that gets an expansion, considering Furiosa’s backstory gets a whole film to itself. In addition to a potential prequel involving Mad Max’s story before Fury Road, Miller also has ideas about Furiosa’s time at the Citadel, in the years after the 40-day war and her escape. Miller (via Digital Spy) hasn’t “got those stories mapped out at all yet,” but that there’s “a lot to tell yet with the Mad Max story.” Even if it’ll take several more years to get made, Furiosa likely isn’t the end of the franchise.