Summary

  • Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga won't answer the long-standing question about what led to the apocalypse in the Mad Max franchise.
  • The prequel focuses on Furiosa's backstory after the apocalypse, rather than explaining the cause of the collapse.
  • The timeline of the franchise becomes even more confusing with Furiosa's storyline, as it doesn't align with Max's age in earlier films.

While Mad Max movies, the spinoff’s trailer confirms that the prequel won't answer one huge question. The Mad Max franchise is full of unsolved enigmas. The timeline of the series is intentionally vague, making it tough for viewers to discern what order the movies take place in. Not only that, but the vaguely mythical status of Max himself has led viewers to question whether Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy’s version of the character are intended to be the same person in-universe. One theory posits that Max could be a title ed down among generations.

Unfortunately, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’s first trailer has confirmed that the franchise's first spinoff will not necessarily provide many answers to these mysteries. Mad Max: Fury Road left Furiosa’s backstory a mystery, but the movie also never explained what exactly happened to the Green Place, the nature of the mysterious Crow Fishers, or how Immortan Joe came to power. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga could have answered all these mysteries by explaining how the world ended in the series. However, the news that the movie’s story will begin decades after the Mad Max franchise’s apocalypse has already happened off-screen means that this will remain a mystery.

Furiosa Won’t Explain Mad Max’s Off-screen Apocalypse

Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa hanging onto the bottom of a big rig truck.

According to the trailer, a young Furiosa is taken from her family 45 years after “The Collapse.” This likely means that Furiosa won’t explain the Mad Max franchise’s apocalypse even though the prequel was a perfect opportunity for the series to clear up this mystery. Earlier movies in the franchise offered contradictory explanations for the apocalypse, with The Road Warrior suggesting that oil and water scarcity led to wars over resources, while Fury Road implied that nuclear war was to blame for society’s total collapse. The prequel could have clarified which of these was the cause, but instead, Furiosa's story will pick up after the apocalypse has taken place.

In some ways, this decision might help Furiosa streamline its story. After all, the Mad Max prequel already has to explain how a character as inspiring and impressive as Fury Road’s heroine ended up working for someone as reprehensible as Immortan Joe. However, Furiosa was also the first chance that the franchise had to depict its unexplained apocalypse in decades. It took thirty years for Fury Road to arrive in theaters and another nine for Furiosa to be released, so it is unlikely that the series will receive another prequel any time soon. As such, missing the opportunity to provide fans with answers about the apocalypse is undeniably regrettable.

Furisoa Makes One Mad Max Franchise Plot Hole Deeper

Mel Gibson playing Max Rockatansky in Mad Max, pictured in front of the antagonist biker gang.

While Furiosa’s spinoff storyline can expand the world of the Mad Max franchise, the prequel’s place in the series timeline already makes Max’s story more confusing. Max Rockatansky was a young father and rookie police officer before the end of the world, as seen in 1979’s original Mad Max. As such, it is hard to see how he is not in his seventies by the time Fury Road takes place. Furiosa was kidnapped 45 years after “The Collapse,” meaning Max would have been at least 65, and then there is the time between Furiosa’s events and Fury Road. Thus, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’s plot ironically makes the franchise’s timeline more confusing.