Furiosa’s Mad Max Cameo Explained

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Summary Mad Max cameo in Furiosa raises questions about his significance and future in the film franchise.

Tom Hardy's stunt double, Jacob Tomuri, plays Max in the cameo scene.

Furiosa's Mad Max bridges Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy's versions, showcasing Max as an archetype.

Mad Max has a cameo in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which makes one curious about who plays him in the prequel film and what his appearance means for the movie franchise's future. Furiosa is the fifth installment in the Mad Max movie series and the only installment in the franchise that does not feature Max Rockatansky as one of its leads. However, despite directing its focus towards Mad Max: Fury Road's female lead, the film does not shy away from briefly featuring Max.

Appearing in a scene from the film's second half, Max can be seen standing next to his Interceptor while watching Anya Taylor-Joy's Furiosa struggling to survive in the harsh wasteland. Unfortunately, the Mad Max cameo in Furiosa is so fleeting that it passes even before a viewer realizes they spotted Max. Despite its brevity, though, the Mad Max cameo in Furiosa raises many a question surrounding the character's significance and connection to the overarching Mad Max storyline.

Related Furiosa Cast & Character Guide Once again returning to the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max, Furiosa boasts a star-studded cast featuring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth.

Who Plays Mad Max In Furiosa

Tom Hardy's Regular Stunt Double Plays The Character

Since Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga features a blink-or-miss Mad Max cameo in which Max's face is not even visible, it is hard not to assume that Tom Hardy is playing the character in the prequel. However, the actor who plays Max in Furiosa's brief scene is Jacob Tomuri, Tom Hardy's stunt double from Mad Max: Fury Road. Tomuri has also previously served as Hardy's stunt double in other big-budget movies like Legend, The Revenant, and Venom. Even in Tom Hardy's upcoming action movie, Havoc, Tomuri continues playing Hardy's stunt double, showcasing their long-term professional partnership.

Since Tomuri has consistently been cast as Tom Hardy's double, it makes sense that he was featured in Furiosa's intriguing but narratively insignificant Mad Max cameo scene. As George Miller confirmed, Jacob Tomuri was on Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga's set for other stunts, making the director realize there was no better choice to play Max than Tom Hardy's long-term stunt double. This allowed Miller to maintain a semblance of continuity between Mad Max: Fury Road and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga without getting Tom Hardy involved.

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Where In Mad Max’s Timeline Does His Furiosa Cameo Take Place

Somewhere Between The Third And The Fourth Film

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George Miller disclosed that Furiosa's events unfold 15 years before Mad Max: Fury Road. He also added that "Max is lurking around somewhere in this story," which is exactly what he seems to be doing in the brief cameo scene. Since Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome takes place somewhere in the early 2000s and Mad Max: Fury Road ensues several decades after Thunderdome's events, it would be safe to say that the cameo scene lies somewhere between the third (Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome) and the fourth (Mad Max: Fury Road) installment of the movie franchise.

Strangely, however, the Mad Max cameo moment in Furiosa seems identical to Mad Max: Fury Road's opening scene. In both, Max stands beside his Interceptor and stares at the expanse while forcing down a meal. Although the camera angle in the Furiosa cameo is slightly different, it is hard not to notice the parallels between the two pivotal moments from the franchise. These similarities between the two movie scenes were likely intentional and supposed to explicitly establish that the Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga scene features no one but Max Rockatansky.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Cast Role Anya Taylor-Joy Imperator Furiosa Chris Hemsworth Dementus Tom Burke Praetorian Jack Lachy Hulme Immortan Joe Nathan Jones Rictus Erectus Josh Helman Scrotus John Howard The People Eater Angus Sampson The Organic Mechanic Alyla Browne Young Furiosa Charlee Fraser Mary Jo Bassa Quaden Bayles War Boy Daniel Webber War Boy

Why Mad Max Doesn’t Help Furiosa When He Sees Her

Furiosa Does Not Confirm Whether Max Helped Her

Custom Image by Debanjana Chowdhury

The Mad Max cameo in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga comes right after Anya Taylor-Joy's character escapes Dementus and his men but loses her arm in the process. Although Dementus is unable to catch her, Furiosa is left severely injured and barely limps her way to a safer place. While she struggles to survive and find refuge, Max seemingly watches her from a distance but does nothing to help. Moments later, Furiosa wakes up in a cave under the Citadel, surrounded by maggot-infested bodies. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga maintains an air of ambiguity surrounding what happens before Anya Taylor-Joy's character finds herself in the cave.

...Max probably keeps his distance from Furiosa because the world around him has turned him too calloused and skeptical to extend help to strangers.

Owing to this, it would be fair to assume that two possibilities exist: either Max saves her by taking her to the cave, or he keeps his distance despite seeing her struggle. If the former holds true, Max probably dropped her in the cave and left before she woke up. On the other hand, if the latter happened, Max probably kept his distance from Furiosa because the world around him had turned him too calloused and skeptical to extend help to strangers. Either way, Max's cautiousness towards the situation is in tandem with what he quotes in Mad Max: Fury Road's opening sequence:

I am the one that runs from both the living and the dead. Hunted by scavengers, haunted by those I could not protect. So I exist in this wasteland, reduced to one instinct: survive.

Furiosa’s Mad Max Bridges The Mel Gibson & Tom Hardy Versions

In Many Ways, Furiosa's Max Reminds One Of Gibson's Take On The Character

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Considering the narrative connections between Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Mad Max: Fury Road, it is hard not to assume that the Max in Furiosa is the one Tom Hardy plays in Fury Road. However, as the cameo scene suggests, Max seems to be gulping down dog food as he watches Furiosa, which reminds one of the Mad Max 2 scene where Mel Gibson's Max Rockatansky enjoys a spoonful of Dinki-Di's meat and veggies. Since the scene does not reveal his face, one can even notice how his demeanor seems more similar to Gibson's iteration of the character than Tom Hardy's.

By merging the two versions of the same character, Furiosa's cameo scene underscores how Max is more of an archetype than a singular character.

Therefore, even though the movie franchise's timeline suggests that Tom Hardy's version of the character appears in Furiosa, it would be fair to say that the Fury Road prequel bridges Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy's take on the character. By merging the two versions of the same character, Furiosa's cameo underscores how Max is more of an archetype than a singular character. While both Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy have done an incredible job at portraying Max in their respective films, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga's cameo scene shows how Max's appeal transcends individual performances and rests more on how he represents a man's struggle to survive.

Related Furiosa: Why One 15-Minute Action Scene Took 78 Days To Film A certain 15-minute action sequence in George Miller and Anya Taylor-Joy's upcoming Furiosa took 200 stunt people and 78 days to shoot.

Is This The Last Time We See Mad Max?

George Miller's Plans Suggest There Will Be More Of Max In The Future

Based on George Miller's plans for the Mad Max franchise, two new movies could see the light of day in the near future. While one, titled Mad Max: The Wasteland, would serve as a sequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, the other would be a prequel set one year before the events of Mad Max: Fury Road. Although the plot details surrounding Mad Max: The Wasteland remain shrouded, it should include Max as one of its leads since it directly continues Fury Road's narrative.

Similarly, the prequel should also feature Mad Max as a primary character because, as George Miller confirmed, its story would focus on everything that happened to Tom Hardy's character one year before Fury Road's events. While it would be strange if George Miller followed up Furiosa with another prequel instead of moving the franchise further into the future, it is interesting how Miller seems more interested in exploring different facets of the Mad Max universe instead of treading the same path as most other movie franchises. Regardless of what happens after Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga in the franchise, Mad Max will likely be seen again.