Furiosa is a prequel that will follow the eponymous character from Mad Max: Fury Road. Unfortunately, director George Miller film had to replace actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II due to scheduling conflicts.

Abdul-Mateen II has had breakout roles in major motion pictures these past few years. Recently, he has starred in Aquaman as the fan-favorite Black Manta, played the lead role in the iconic horror film Candyman, took on the role of Morpheus in the highly anticipated The Matrix Resurrections, portrayed Cal Abar in Watchmen, and starred in television series such as Black Mirror and The Get Down. The actor is busy, to say the least, so him being cast in a Mad Max spinoff was only going to add to the actor's impressive resume.

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Deadline reports Abdul-Mateen II is being replaced by Tom Burke (Mank, The Souvenir), so fans shouldn't have to worry about the Furiosa script being affected too much. The outlet noted that Abdul-Mateen II had to exit Furiosa because another project he's involved with recently moved production up. While the exact project is unknown, it is reportedly a "secret passion project" that Abdul-Mateen II had been developing "for some time." As was the case when Abdul-Mateen II was cast, the role Burke will be taking over is currently unknown.

Mad Max Furiosa Anya Taylor-Joy delay

Furiosa will be diving into the backstory of the character who many fans of the franchise have gravitated towards ever since she was first played by Charlize Theron. The film's journey through production has been widely covered. It was recently reported that Furiosa won't be coming out until 2024, so right now fans shouldn't be too surprised if anything else changes between now and the film's long-awaited release date. Hopefully, these casting hiccups only enhance what the film was going to do rather than make fans wonder what could have been.

Fans really do like to see spin-off films when it adds to the plot of the previous movie. Furiosa is meant to be a deeper dive for a character who needs it. The film won't be attempting to re-do anything that was established nor retcon anything. If this film does well, then maybe there will be more Mad Max spin-offs or even direct sequels in the future.

The Mad Max video game was widely appreciated and did very well with fans and newcomers. The game had an open world mixed with hand-to-hand combat and off-road vehicular transportation that is similar to Borderlands. The game balanced many different aspects of gaming into one nicely wrapped package. Kojima is interested in developing a Mad Max game and if it's anything like what's been done before, then fans shouldn't be too surprised if it does well.

Furiosa is scheduled to be released on May 24, 2024.

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Source: Deadline