Some version of Mad Max 4 - now known as Mad Max: Fury Road - has been in the works for more than a quarter of a century (since the release of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome in 1985). To put that in perspective, we've had five American presidents, six Summer Olympics, and seven Halloween films in that time.

But now it's finally happening. After numerous setbacks - the most significant of which was the Iraq War in 2003  - Mad Max: Fury Road is in production as we speak, and we've got the set photos to prove it.

The first four photos were uploaded to Tumblr by Australian model-turned-actress, Abbey Lee Kershaw, who plays a caged woman in the film. The next two feature Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Megan Fox's replacement in Transformers 3), Zoë Kravitz (X-Men: First Class), Riley Keough (Magic Mike), and Adelaide Clemens (Silent Hill: Revelation 3D) hanging out in Namibia, Africa between shots and were uploaded to Huntington-Whiteley's Twitter account. And the last two - featuring a massive black truck - were posted on the Super Hero Hype forums.

Check them out below (click to enlarge):

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Obviously, there's not a whole lot to look at in these pictures. For example, the truck photos look almost identical to the ones we reported on earlier in the year when Mad Max: Fury Road was still very much not in production.

But while these photos don't reveal anything particularly juicy, they do something nearly as important - they provide irrefutable evidence that this movie is actually being filmed.

A Mad Max movie is in production for the first time since the 1980s. George Miller has returned to directing live-action feature films for the first time since Babe 2: Pig in the City. Post-apocalyptic cinema is about to become thoroughly reacquainted with its most soft-spoken and badass protagonist in the form of Tom Hardy's Max Rockatansky. I think it's safe to get excited now, people.

Mad Max fans have been waiting for this film for so long, it probably seemed like it was never going to happen. But it is happening. It is officially happening. We're finally going to be able to see what a Mad Max film starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron looks like - barring some last minute international disaster, that is.

Are you looking forward to it, Screen Ranters?

Mad Max: Fury Road will likely (cross your fingers) hit theaters in 2013.

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Follow me on Twitter @benandrewmoore.

Sources: Abbey Lee Kershaw's Tumblr, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's Twitter Account, & the Super Hero Hype forums [via Collider]