Though Mad Max: Fury Road was one of the year's biggest surprises, it took years for writer/director George Miller to bring his vision to screen, with production initially set to commence all the way back in 2001. Shortly after Fury Road's theatrical release, Miller revealed that he'd already started work on a follow-up with the working title Mad Max: The Wasteland, and here explains that the seeds for the sequel were sewn within the 2015 film.
As Fury Road's production stopped and started, Miller "dug down deep into the backstory, not only of the characters, but of every vehicle. How the steering wheels became religious artefacts and things like that." The exploration into his world of Mad Max resulted in the creation of two scripts, though of which will become The Wasteland, Miller is uncertain. "So we ended up with two scripts, without really trying," he says. "We're talking to the studio about it as we speak, but which one of the two stories will happen next, I'm not so sure."
However, as he's previously stated, we shouldn't expect Miller to crank out a new Mad Max instalment instantly, as the 70-year-old filmmaker is looking to do something much smaller. "I want to do a small film without special effects before I do any of that, just to do it quickly," he dishes. "We shot Fury Road for eight months… that's a lot. Every day in the heat and the dust, doing these stunts, it's very wearing. We've got two more planned, but at some point in the future."
It's very understandable that Miller would opt for a far less taxing project; Joss Whedon did a similar thing between the release of The Avengers and production on Avengers: Age of Ultron, making his take on Shakespearean tale Much Ado About Nothing in his own backyard. Still, the prospect of a pair of new Mad Max movies in the future is certainly an exciting prospect, so let's hope the first isn't too far away. Are you excited to see Miller return to the Wasteland?