Chris Hemsworth will reportedly be playing a post-apocalyptic villain in the Mad Max film Furiosa. The Mad Max franchise, which follows the exploits of a wanderer named Max getting into car-related scraps in a post-apocalyptic Australia, began in 1979. The most recent entry was Mad Max: Fury Road, which starred Tom Hardy as Max and Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa, the driver of one of Immortan Joe's war rigs. When she smuggles his harem of wives out of his compound, she begins a wild chase that lasts nearly the entire film. Mad Max Fury Road was nominated for Best Picture at that year's Academy Awards and is widely considered to be one of the greatest action films of all time.
Furiosa, which will follow the exploits of Theron's character as a young woman, is currently in pre-production with returning director George Miller. Although the film has been delayed many times, it is currently eyeing a release date of May 24, 2024. The Queen's Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy will be taking over the role of Furiosa along with Tom Burke in an unspecified role. Until now there hadn't been any details about the character Burke will be playing and it has also been confirmed that Chris Hemsworth will be appearing in Furiosa.
On the podcast Blank Check with Griffin and David, they released an episode with New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan, who wrote the book Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, which comes to shelves on February 22, 2022. At the end of the episode, they had a brief chat about the progress of Furiosa, which has been experiencing major delays ever since it was announced after the release of Fury Road in 2015. Buchanan says that everyone he's talked to has confirmed that the film is going forward, and he even dropped a new tidbit, saying that "They have Chris Hemsworth as the villain, who I heard was called Dr. Dementus." While this has yet to be confirmed by the production, Buchanan is as close to a reliable source outside of the crew that anyone is likely to get.
Dr. Dementus is certainly a character name that fits right in with the Mad Max universe. Other than Immortan Joe, some of the main villainous characters in the franchise have had offbeat monikers like Toecutter, Lord Humungus, and Auntie Entity. However, it is possible that this character name is a misremembered conflation with the 1980s radio personality Dr. Demento, who has worked closely with Weird Al Yankovic.
If this Furiosa news is indeed true, it will be quite an interesting turn for Hemsworth, who has struggled to find roles outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that strike a chord. While he has proven his chops at both action and comedy, this will give him the chance to show off his range even further. His character Thor's future is uncertain after his next outing in Thor: Love and Thunder, so this opportunity is coming at the perfect time.
Source: Blank Check with Griffin and David
