Mad Max prequel Furiosa brings the crazy in its first official trailer

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

The wait for a follow-up to 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road has been a long and arduous one, but it appears to have been worth it — at least going by the first official trailer for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which dropped today.

The upcoming film, which is a prequel to Fury Road, follows the early days of Furiosa, who was memorably portrayed by Charlize Theron in that film, and is now played by Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen's Gambit, Last Night in Soho).

Furiosa will presumably detail the events that led to the character becoming an Imperator and the driver of Immortan Joe's war rig. Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Extraction) stars opposite Taylor-Joy, and appears to be playing the film's villain.

Anyway, enough talk — you can check out the action-packed trailer for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga below.

Furiosa looks even crazier than Mad Max: Fury Road

Based on the above, it appears director George Miller isn't shying away from the craziness we've come to expect from the Mad Max franchise.

The action looks as wild as it did in Fury Road, with explosions, chases and car stunts aplenty, though we must note that there's a surprising amount of obvious green screen work on display — it's always weird to see outdoor scenes with professional studio lighting.

We're also not sure about the dodgy fake nose that Hemsworth is wearing — it might work in the context of the finished film, but in this trailer it's certainly quite distracting. 

Still, it appears as though the story of Furiosa will have a larger scope than Fury Road, which more or less took place over the course of two days. Here, it's clear that the film isn't centered around one big chase, but rather one character's odyssey over a greater length of time. For instance, Furiosa still has both arms and long hair for most of the trailer.

As for when we'll get to see Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the US release date has been set for May 24, in time for Memorial Day weekend. The film will release internationally from May 22.

Presumably, a US streaming release on Max will follow some time after that, though Warner Bros. Discovery no longer has a guaranteed theatrical-to-streaming window.

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Stephen Lambrechts

Stephen Lambrechts is the Managing Editor of Tom's Guide AU and has written professionally across the categories of tech, film, television and gaming for the last 15 years. Before Tom's Guide, he spent several years as a Senior Journalist at TechRadar, had a brief stint as Editor in Chief at Official Xbox Magazine Australia, and has written for such publications as APC, TechLife Australia, T3, FilmInk, AskMen, Daily Telegraph and IGN. He's an expert when it comes to smartphones, TVs, gaming and streaming. In his spare time, he enjoys watching obscure horror movies on physical media, keeping an eye on the latest retro sneaker releases and listening to vinyl. Occasionally, he also indulges in other non-hipster stuff, like hiking.