George Miller has recruited Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II to star in Furiosa. The film is a prequel based on Charlize Theron’s character from 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road.
The 24-year-old Taylor-Joy is taking on the iconic version; Miller told The New York Times in May that he was looking for an actress in her 20s after deciding against using de-aging tech to allow the 44-year-old Theron to reprise her role.
Twitter was split. Many were thrilled with Taylor-Joy as the titular characters, others were concerned she couldn’t pull off a Theron-worthy performance. Wrote one critic: “I love Anya and Yahya Abdul so I will be definitely watching this but with low expectation due to the lack of Charlize, she really made Mad Max Fury Road even though the rest of the actors were good too it wouldn't have worked without her.”
Others thought she could do it. Wrote one booster: “Okay I’m still skeptical we need a Furiosa prequel but Anya Taylor-Joy as young Furiosa is… very good”.