The violent Wasteland of George Millers Mad Max franchise isn't exactly bustling with sympathetic characters, and even the titular protagonist is really more of a reluctant hero doing what he can to survive.
2015's Fury Road did introduce a slightly more selfless take on Max (Tom Hardy) along with a genuinely heroic figure in the form of Furiosa (Charlize Theron), and in addition to charting the origin of the Immortan Joe's Imperator (now played by Anya Taylor-Joy), Miller's prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, features the debut of the thoughtful, compassionate Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke).
Spoilers follow.
Furiosa forms a close (possibly romantic) bond with Jack when she joins his crew, but their relationship comes to a tragic end when Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and his men ambush the War Rig at the Bullet Farm.
While Jack and Furiosa do survive this attack and set out to find the Green Place, they don't get very far. After catching up to the pair, the ruthless warlord forces Furiosa to watch while Jack is tied to a motorcycle and dragged in a circle. As if that wasn't a cruel enough fate, Dementus then unleashes his dogs to make sure the job is done.
Furiosa manages to escape by hacking through her own arm, and while we are not shown what is left of Jack, it's made abundantly clear that he did not survive his ordeal.
During an interview with GQ, Burke revealed that his death scene was the very first thing he shot.
“It's a very unromantic death. [George] wanted the whole being dragged out of the car, Chris talking to us, getting tied up, [all shot in] one take,” the actor recalls. “They suddenly said before we started, George wants to do some longer bits on this. Which I love, I think it gives the whole film a whole other quality, something more lyrical.”
“And I was like, ‘We’re doing this on my first day? Really? They want to get rid of me.' I had a little square there,” Burke went on, gesturing to his midriff. "Essentially to make sure that the costume didn't get too rubbed, or scratched, just over my solar plexus. When it's the high shot, and I'm completely motionless, that's a mannequin or whatever. They digitally printed the mannequin, it's very accurately me. But when it's a dead body, it doesn't need to be me.”
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"As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus," reads the movie's synopsis. "Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home."
Miller penned the script with Fury Road co-writer Nico Lathouris. The director's behind-the-scenes creative team includes first assistant director PJ Voeten and second unit director and stunt coordinator Guy Norris, director of photography Simon Duggan (Hacksaw Ridge, The Great Gatsby), composer Tom Holkenborg, sound designer Robert Mackenzie, editor Eliot Knapman, visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson and colorist Eric Whipp.
The team also includes other longtime collaborators: production designer Colin Gibson, editor Margaret Sixel, sound mixer Ben Osmo, costume designer Jenny Beavan and makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt, each of whom won an Oscar for their work on Mad Max: Fury Road.