In Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga‘s new trailer, audiences might notice a familiar track, which perfectly fits the film and its overarching Mad Max universe. Serving as a spin-off and prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is the fifth film in the franchise, and it will walk viewers through the origin story of one of the franchise’s most compelling characters, Furiosa. While Furiosa was portrayed by Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road, Anya Taylor-Joy is taking the role of the younger version of the character in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Although Furiosa‘s trailer does not give away the deeper aspects of the film’s storyline, it gives a glimpse of what might happen and how Furiosa’s origin story will eventually shape her into becoming the character audiences saw in Mad Max: Fury Road. From an action standpoint, the film also promises high-octane desert action scenes that will likely be as impressive as the ones featured in Fury Road. Even when it comes to the sound in the film, one of its theme songs already seems to perfectly set the film’s tone and themes.

A Remix Of David Bowie’s “Man Who Sold The World” Plays In Furiosa’s New Trailer

The David Bowie song brings 70s nostalgia to Furiosa’s dark setting

A symphonic remix of David Bowie’s “Man Who Sold the World” plays in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga‘s new trailer. Although the song initially went unnoticed when it was first released in 1970, it gained more attention when other artists like Lulu, Midge Ure, and Nirvana covered it. Now, it is recognized as one of David Bowie’s best and most well-known songs, which is why it is not surprising that it was featured in Furiosa‘s trailer. However, considering the dark thematic elements in the song and the eerie atmosphere created by its riffs, there seems to be more to its appearance in Furiosa than meets the eye.

“Man Who Sold The World” Reflects Furiosa’s Struggles With Identity & Purpose

The David Bowie song gives insight into Furiosa’s motives

David Bowie’s “Man Who Sold The World” can be interpreted in more ways than one. However, it is commonly believed that the song is a reflection of the artist’s struggles with identity and purpose after selling his life to music. “You’re face to face with the man who sold the world” is a line that echoes in the song’s chorus, highlighting Bowie’s inner conflict of holding on to his true self as his public persona gradually chips it away.

In an interview (via BBC Radio1), David Bowie also opened up about his take on the song, revealing that it is about the pursuit of “this great searching, this great need to find out who you really are” when you’re young. The song’s meaning seems to be perfectly in tandem with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga‘s main character beat. As seen in the trailer, Furiosa, too, struggles with her identity after falling into the hands of Dementus’ biker horde.

After being taken away from the Vuvalini of Many Mothers and thrown into the desolate wastelands of the post-apocalyptic world, Furiosa experiences a dissonance between her past life and her present harsh reality. Since Furiosa will focus on the early years of the character, it will also likely walk through her search for who she is and the meaning of her existence after she faces a vicious warlord like Dementus. Given how the song aligns with Furiosa’s arc and journey of self-discovery, David Bowie’s “Man Who Sold The World” is the perfect track to capture her cathartic odyssey.

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The trailer for Mad Max’s prequel movie, Furiosa, showed the titular character in action, but Anya Taylor-Joy wasn’t the only actor playing Furiosa.

The David Bowie Song Perfectly Captures Mad Max’s Dystopian Despair

“Man” literally and metaphorically sold the world in Mad Max

As established in the previous installments of the Mad Max franchise, the world was ravaged by environmental collapse and societal breakdown — all caused by human greed. What started with the oil wars later led to water wars, triggering relentless violence that engulfed the remnants of civilization. The water wars eventually led to extreme capitalization of water resources where only powerful forces like Immortan Joe had complete control over them. Owing to this, in the world Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, mankind did indeed sell the world by gradually exploiting and monopolizing all naturally occurring resources.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

A prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is an action-adventure film that tells the origin story of the headstrong and fearless Furiosa. Set shortly after the beginning of the “end of the world,” Furiosa is kidnapped and brought before a powerful warlord, now forced to work for him. To find her way back home, Furiosa will adapt to the new harsh and arid world as she grows into the Furiosa she becomes known to be. 

Director

George Miller

Release Date

May 24, 2024

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributor(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

Writers

George Miller , Nick Lathouris

Budget

168 million