It seems there’s plenty of gas still left in the Mad Max tank, as George Miller once again tells fans to fasten their seatbelts to revisit his automotive apocalypse. After fearing the franchise had fallen into development hell following the success of 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is racing into review with Anya Taylor-Joy taking over from Charlize Theron as the menacing mechanic.
The fifth Mad Max movie is finally here, and with it finding its place in the timeline among Toecutters and Thunderdomes, there are plenty of nods to what’s come before. From video game homages to familiar faces, poetic justice to clever cameos that set up the future of the franchise, here are the 10 best Furiosa Easter eggs you might’ve missed.
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The Demented Dementus
Alongside Anya Taylor-Joy’s titular Furiosa, Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus takes star billing. He rides around in his chariot motorcycle, serving like a villainous Roman emperor. We see his villainy evolve as his white cape changes color to show his descent into madness.
The eccentric Dementus goes under many names as Furiosa, referring to himself as “The Great Dementus,” “Red Dementus,” “The Guardian Lord of Gas Town,” and “Dark Dementus.” We don’t get much of his backstory, although we know he once had children of his own, which is why he carries around a teddy bear.
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Furiosa was originally conceived as an anime, and as Miller told RadioTimes.com, Dementus’ bear is the only concept that was carried over from that treatment. As for the creation of the character, Hemsworth himself was key to beefing up Dementus. Miller explained how the star brought a lot to the character and added his own sense of humor.
Game On
For those who haven’t played Avalanche Studios’ Mad Max video game from 2015, you’re sorely missing out. Miller isn’t much of a fan and recently caused a stir when he shared his disdain in an interview with GamingBible. Avalanche founder Christofer Sundberg clapped back in a lengthy thread on X (formerly Twitter) and referred to Miller’s “complete arrogance.”
We imagine sales of the game are set to soar, as it’s an important part of Furiosa’s lore. Fury Road only refers to Immortan Joe’s sons, Rictus Erectus and Corpus Colossus, while Furiosa introduces us to Scabrous Scrotus–who served as the game’s main antagonist. Furiosa also adds the video game character of Chumbucket to the mix (played by Bryan Probets). As Scrotus dies in the game, it explains why he’s not around during the events of Fury Road.
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Major locations of Gas Town and The Bullet Farm are key to Furiosa, with Gas Town looking just like its video game counterpart. There’s also a clever nod to Dementus, with one Mad Max mission asking players to find a car that honors the Biker Lords of Old. There’s mention of “Dr. D,” and with the car being called the “Demented Chariot,” it’s clearly Dementus’ signature wheels.
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A “Mad” Cameo
With Furiosa being a prequel to Fury Road, many questioned how The Road Warrior would fit into things. Even though Max and Furiosa don’t meet until the events of Fury Road, fans were on the money that he’d be stopping by for a cameo.
Miller has distanced himself from Mel Gibson’s involvement, and while we hoped Hardy would return, this wasn’t the case. Furiosa potentially introduces us to our next Max, with Jacob Tomuri stepping up to play a younger Max Rockatansky.
When a bleeding Furiosa limps across the Wasteland after losing her arm, Max spots her from atop a ridge and seemingly saves her life. Tomuri is no stranger to the Wasteland and previously played Hardy’s stunt double on Fury Road. Even though we don’t see his face, it proved we don’t need Hardy in a prequel movie.
Praetorian Furiosa
Tom Burke’s Praetorian Jack serves as something of this movie’s Max–a war-torn survivor of the Wasteland and master of the Fury Road. When Miller and Brendan McCarthy first came up with the idea that would become Fury Road, the character of Furiosa was originally envisioned as “The Praetorian.”
The Praetorian eventually evolved into “Warrior Woman” and “The Imperator,” before settling on Imperator Furiosa. Furiosa was once set to be the name of the area surrounding the Fury Road, but now, we can’t imagine the character being called anything else. Furiosa nods to her origin, and when riding alongside Jack, Furiosa briefly becomes Praetorian Furiosa.
Speaking to GamesRadar, Burke has already pitched his own Praetorian Jack spin-off movie. As Hardy’s future with the franchise is in doubt and Miller has repeatedly said Gibson won’t appear again, Praetorian Jack could be a temporary replacement as rugged Wasteland wrangler.
A Helping Hand
Alongside her shaved head, Furiosa’s iconic look is made by her mechanical arm. Miller said there was a whole different story where Furiosa was one of Immortan Joe’s wives who was discarded due to being infertile, as well as a reveal about how she lost her arm, but ultimately, both ended up on Fury Road’s cutting room floor.
Furiosa fills in the gaps and explains how Furiosa lost her arm during a climactic fight with Dementus. Injuring it when involved in a crash with Dementus’ monster truck, Furiosa is then strung up by her arm to watch Praetorian Jack die. To free herself, she chops her own arm off, although it’s never shown how she does it. Losing her arm gains a whole new meaning when we learn it also prevents Furiosa from getting home.
A young Furiosa tattoos a map to The Green Place on her arm, and by losing it, she loses her only chance of getting home. Taylor-Joy explained its importance to Refinery29, telling the site, “In the losing of the map, in the losing of her hair, she becomes a creature of the wasteland and kind of accepts the fact that there’s no going home in the same way. She can only return as the warrior she now is.”
Baby Blues
Furiosa has many returning faces from Fury Road, adding a little more meat onto their bones with more of a backstory. The returning War Lords means John Howard reprises his role as The People Eater, while Nathan Jones returns as Rictus. The other big one is Angus Samson playing The Organic Mechanic.
While The Organic Mechanic originally serves under Dementus, he’s brought into The Citadel as part of Immortan Joe’s trade. Known as the medical doctor of The Citadel, it’s The Organic Mechanic’s job to deliver Immortan Joe’s heirs into the world.
The Organic Mechanic had tally marks on his hand in Fury Road, revealing that Immortan Joe had sired 72 children. Like we saw a deformed baby born in Furiosa, it’s implied that only Rictus, Scrotus, and Corpus Colossus survived into adulthood.
The Circle of Life
There’s a poetic sense of justice when it comes to Dementus’ end in Furiosa. The movie goes through the various options of how Furiosa can dispatch him, but ultimately, he becomes a living peach tree at the top of The Citadel.
The movie’s final shot is Furiosa giving the tree’s first peach to Joe’s wives before she smuggles them into the War Rig and neatly plays directly into Fury Road. Furiosa opens with a much younger version of the character picking a peach from a tree and then being dragged out into the Wasteland as a Garden of Eden homage.
The circle of life is a big part of Wasteland lore, and across all her years, Furiosa keeps the peach seed that her mother gave to her. You might remember Melissa Jaffer played the Keeper of the Seeds in Fury Road and was tasked with keeping the Vuvilani’s Green Place growing elsewhere.
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History Man
Fury Road was originally supposed to be something of a loose retelling of the past, with the whole movie being the narration of a History Man. Although the idea was scrapped, the movie ended with a quote from the “first” History Man.
Furiosa revised the idea of this, rounding out with narration from a History Man. The movie starts with briefly going over how the world went to sh*t, with later mentions of the various World Wars, Fuel Wars, and Water Wars. The History Man ends Furiosa recounting the many myths about what happened to Dementus, but in reality, his fate was far worse than any of these.
In the comics, History Men were founded in the wake of Immortan Joe’s rule, with Fury Road’s Miss Giddy (Jennifer Haden) serving as a precursor. Furiosa messes with this a bit, establishing Dementus’ History Man (George Shevtsov) as the “first” History Man.
The Green Place
Unfortunately, there are no happy endings here. The bright utopia of The Green Place eventually becomes the swamp-like area we see in Fury Road. Although only briefly glimpsed, it’s remembered for the harrowing image of the stilt-walking Crow Fishers.
Furiosa will eventually learn what happens to her homeland in Fury Road, with her meeting the surviving Vuvalini on her journey. Furiosa is full of returning faces, but you might notice the young girl (Dylan Adonis) with Furiosa at the start is referred to as Valkyrie. This is the same Valkyrie who is Furiosa’s little sister, played by Megan Gale in Fury Road.
Dementus wrongly assumed The Citadel is The Green Place in Furiosa, referring to the “place of abundance.” Ultimately, the lush greenery atop The Citadel does make it The Green Place, and when Immortan Joe is toppled at the end of Fury Road, the Vuvalini make it their new home.
The Future of the Franchise
As the name suggests, Furiosa is part of a much bigger Mad Max “saga.” It was originally set to shoot back-to-back with Fury Road, but when it became a much bigger project, it outgrew this possibility. Arguments between Miller and Warner Bros. scuppered these plans, leading to a lengthy wait.
We know Miller has potential plans for Mad Max: The Wasteland, which is supposed to be a sequel to Fury Road, but there’s also been the mention of a prequel set one year before the events of the 2015 movie. There’s no typical post-credit scene in Furiosa, but some clever foreshadowing might’ve given us another spin-off.
Furiosa’s credits rattle through scenes from Fury Road, showing Hardy, Theron, and company back in action — all set to composer Tom Holkenborg’s dramatic score. The final shot is of the bobblehead belonging to Nicolas Hoult’s Nux in Fury Road. There are swirling theories that Nux’s lore will be expanded in live-action–after all, the material is already there in the form of the Mad Max Fury Road: Nux & Immortan Joe comic.
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Author Bio:
Based in Manchester, UK, Tom Chapman has over seven years’ experience covering everything from dragons to Demogorgons. Starting out with a stint at Movie Pilot in Berlin, Tom has since branched out to indulge his love of all things Star Wars and the MCU at Digital Spy, Den of Geek, IGN, Yahoo! and more. These days, you’ll find Tom channelling his inner Gale Weathers and ranting about how HBO did us dirty with Game of Thrones Season Eight.
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