Furiosa: Mad Max spin-off movie adds Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

It's time to rev those engines as Mad Max spin-off movie Furiosa gears up for automotive carnage. Director George Miller brings us the origin story to his barnstorming 2015 blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road, in which Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa took the wheel, in every conceivable way.

Of course, with this being an origin story, Theron is set to stand aside. Step forward The Witch and New Mutants star Anya Taylor-Joy, who will show us how Furiosa became the rig-driving badass of the later Mad Max epic. 

It's now been confirmed by Deadline that Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will be joining the cast of Furiosa. It's not clear who the Thor and Watchmen actors will be playing, but we do know that Miller is reuniting with Fury Road screenwriter Nico Lathouris.

Warner Bros will again distribute, but can we hope for a surprise appearance from Tom Hardy's Max? Given this is set some years before Fury Road, it may be a bit of a stretch to introduce the character when he isn't noticeably younger looking. Perhaps a bit of de-ageing CGI a la Martin Scorsese's The Irishman will do the trick?

Taylor-Joy will next be seen in Edgar Wright's psychological horror Last Night in Soho, due for release (at the time of writing) in April 2021. Hemsworth will reprise his Thor role in Thor: Love and Thunder, a key Phase Four MCU title that's now scheduled to come out on 11th February 2022. Mateen, meanwhile, will be taking the lead role in Candyman, the 'spiritual sequel' to the classic 1992 horror, and due for release at some point in 2021.

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