George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road spinoff, Furiosa, is tentatively set to commence production in Australia late next year, but it will do so without one of its biggest stars.
Deadline reports that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman, The Matrix Resurrections) has been forced to drop out of the project to to a scheduling conflict, and will be replaced by British TV actor Tom Burke. No details on Mateen's (now Burke's) character were ever revealed, but he is believed to be an ally of Furiosa's.
Anya Taylor-Joy (The New Mutants, Last Night In Soho) is still on board to play a younger version of the titular one-armed warrior before she became Immortan Joe's most feared Imperator, while Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame) will costar. His role hasn't been confirmed, either, but a previous casting call indicated that he would be a villain named Dementus, who is described as being "breathtakingly handsome. An angel’s face, scarred by a deep forehead wound stitched together with shiny chrome staples."
We're not sure which movie prevented Abdul-Mateen II from making Furiosa, but sources believe it's a "secret passion project he had been developing for some time."
This will be one of Burke's first major studio features after appearing as Orson Welles in 2020's Mank. His other credits include BBC adaptations of The Musketeers, War & Peace, and Cormoran Strike.
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