Charlize Theron Won’t Star in Mad Max: Furiosa

Charlize Theron will not be returning to her role as Furiosa in his planned Mad Max prequel spin-off. George Miller spoke with the New York Times and confirmed that Theron will not reprise her role in the spin-off, which will focus on a much younger version of the character.

“For the longest time, I thought we could just use CG de-aging on Charlize, but I don’t think we’re nearly there yet,” Miller said. “Despite the valiant attempts on The Irishman, I think there’s still an uncanny valley. Everyone is on the verge of solving it, particular Japanese video game designers, but there’s still a pretty wide valley, I believe.”

The Furiosa film will be directed by Miller from a script he wrote with Nick Lathouris before Fury Road began filming. Miller created backstories for all the characters and Furiosa’s explored what her life was like in the Green Place, as well as how she went from that to becoming the badass warrior we see in Fury Road.

The film will feature the return of Fury Road production designer Colin Gibson, who teased that the prequel has “even more” vehicles than Fury Road. Fury Road cinemtographer John Seale will also be back.