Furiosa's Original Movie Plan Was Completely Different 15 Years Before $168 Million Blockbuster

Summary Furiosa was originally intended to be an anime prequel movie, giving it a unique spin on the Mad Max franchise's world-building.

Challenges during pre-production, including delays and legal disputes, shaped Furiosa's transformation into a live-action film.

The decision to switch from an anime to a live-action format allowed for a more cohesive and visually impressive portrayal of Furiosa's origin story.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga explores the origin story of Mad Max: Fury Road's Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy), but it could have been a completely different movie 15 years ago. George Miller’s Mad Max universe keeps expanding now with a spinoff and prequel to his 2015 hit Mad Max: Fury Road. Titled Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, it takes viewers 15 to 20 years before the events of Fury Road, to the desert wasteland where warlords fight over the last remaining sources of water, food, gasoline, and weapons. Furiosa tells the title character’s backstory, beginning with her kidnapping from the Green Place.

Furiosa is taken by warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), who adopts her as his daughter in hopes that she will one day lead him and his Biker Horde to the Green Place. As part of peace negotiations with Immortan Joe, Furiosa and Dementus’ personal physician are taken by Joe. After escaping from Rictus’ sexual advances, Furiosa disguises herself as a teenage boy and works her way up to the rank of Praetorian with the help of Praetorian Jack, while looking for revenge against Dementus. Furiosa had been in the works for years, and it was almost completely different, potentially changing the whole franchise.

Related Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Ending Explained Furiosa ends in a way that ties up the title character's storyline, relaying her origins. We break down the biggest moments from Furiosa's ending.

Furiosa Was Originally Developed As An Anime Prequel Movie

Furiosa Could Have Been A First In The Mad Max Franchise

Custom Image by Debanjana Chowdhury.

Mad Max: Fury Road and now Furiosa stand out for their action scenes and many different vehicles, but Furiosa was almost very different from the rest of the movies in the saga as it was developed as an anime. Mad Max: Fury Road went through a long pre-production process that officially started in 2000, and it went through many changes in the next 15 years. In 2010, Miller revealed plans to shoot Mad Max: Fury Road and Mad Max: Furiosa back-to-back, and during the writing process of Fury Road, they developed backstories for the characters, particularly Furiosa.

Miller and co-writer Nico Lathouris gave the finished Furiosa script to Japanese director Mahiro Maeda with the purpose of turning it into an animated prequel.

Miller confirmed to Total Film that the script for Furiosa was ready before Fury Road started shooting, but the project wasn’t what it now is. In the book Blood, Sweat, & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max by Kyle Buchanan, it’s revealed that Miller and co-writer Nico Lathouris gave the finished Furiosa script to Japanese director Mahiro Maeda with the purpose of turning it into an animated prequel. Back then, the project was titled The Peach (via Total Film), and Miller told Rolling Stone that the final product is very similar to the original idea they intended to turn into an extended anime movie.

Why Furiosa's Animated Movie Was Canceled

Furiosa Had To Overcome Many Challenges During Pre-Production

Miller shared that they were going to make the Furiosa anime, but it was delayed a second time “when we were rained out of Australia”.

Mad Max: Fury Road had a lengthy pre-production process, but Furiosa also had to overcome many challenges to move past its development phase. Speaking to Charlie Schmidling in 2015 (via Indie Wire) Miller shared that they were going to make the Furiosa anime, but it was delayed a second time “when we were rained out of Australia”. The unexpected heavy rains in Australia also delayed the production of Fury Road, so Miller saw no point in making the Furiosa anime at the time (via Polygon), so he chose to focus on making Fury Road.

Luckily, Furiosa wasn’t left behind entirely and, instead, it was reworked to fit a live-action format rather than an animated one. As mentioned above, Miller told Rolling Stone that a lot of what’s seen in the final cut of Furiosa came from the anime project, and the last scene between Dementus and Furiosa was the one they used for auditioning actors for Fury Road. Miller said that about 80% of Furiosa was in the anime version, but it obviously went through some changes once it became a live-action movie.

Related The World Of Furiosa & Mad Max Fury Road Explained Filmmaker George Miller is perhaps best known for being the visionary behind the Mad Max universe and lore, which includes both Fury Road and Furiosa.

How Furiosa Would Have Been Different As An Animated Movie

Furiosa As An Anime Would Have Been A Different Experience

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Had Furiosa moved forward as an anime, its pre-production and production times might have been shorter, and it would have arrived earlier than the final product did.

Furiosa went through many obstacles during pre-production, not just because of the above-mentioned delays due to the heavy rains, but because Miller’s production company filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over unpaid salaries in 2017, delaying the production of Furiosa. These legal disputes were resolved in 2020, and so Furiosa officially entered production. Had Furiosa moved forward as an anime, its pre-production and production times might have been shorter, and it would have arrived earlier than the final product did.

Furiosa as an anime would have also given Miller and company more creative freedom regarding the chase scenes, vehicles, and more, though it’s a lot more impressive to see all that in live-action.

The live-action Furiosa faced the challenge of casting a young version of the title character, with Miller opting for this instead of digitally de-aging Charlize Theron. The anime version of Furiosa could have avoided this problem by having Theron voice her character. Furiosa as an anime would have also given Miller and company more creative freedom regarding the chase scenes, vehicles, and more, though it’s a lot more impressive to see all that in live-action. Ultimately, Furiosa as a live-action movie was a better decision, bringing more cohesion to the Fury Road branch of the Mad Max saga.

Sources: Blood, Sweat, & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max, Total Film, Rolling Stone, Indie Wire, Polygon.