Last summer's blockbuster movie Mad Max: Fury Road was, by all accounts a critical and box office success. The Oscar-winning sequel was thirty years in the making, but all that gestation time didn't make fans' desire to see the movie wane. Franchise creator, Australian director George Miller, had spoken for years about wanting to continue his post-apocalyptic series but the time just never seemed to be right to move forward on the project.
There was also talk about adding one more film to the mix and the rumors claimed it would be a prequel of sorts, but a prequel to what was really never nailed down. Would it be a prequel to the original Mad Max film starring Mel Gibson from 1979 or would it be a prequel to Fury Road starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron - no one was quite sure. A prequel to Fury Road always sounded like the most likely candidate, as there is plenty of time unaccounted for in Max's life between Fury Road and Beyond Thunderdome.
Now, Dark Horizons has come across a story in the Australian newspaper, The Herald-Sun, which claims that pre-production on Mad Max: The Wasteland is well underway and looking to film in the Broken Green area of the Outback. Additionally, they say the film will focus on the backstory of Theron's character, Imperator Furiosa. Outside of the news article, there's been no confirmation or talk regarding a possible prequel coming from either Miller's camp or Warner Bros. Pictures. However, secretive pre-production and/or even secretive filming has been known to happen without the general public ever catching wind of it (see: 10 Cloverfield Lane and the latest Blair Witch installment.)
If Miller really is considering making Imperator Furiosa the focus of Mad Max: The Wasteland, clearly Max will need to be involved somehow, else the name of the movie would be questionable. It's possible the story goes with a split-narrative that gives equal time to both characters. Fury Road opened with Immortan Joe's War Boys chasing down Max, with Imperator Furiosa already in Joe's Citadel camp - this approach would make sense. Showing how Joe came into power and in possession of his breeder wives - Capable, Cheedo, Toast, the Dag and the Splendid Angharad - would definitely make for an interesting story.
Regarding the location of Broken Hill, Dark Horizons points out that the area is generally barren and the original plan was to film Fury Road there. However, unforeseen rains flood the location making it green and fertile - something that obviously wouldn't fit into the dusty, barren landscape Miller needed for his movie - so filming was moved to nearby Namibia. Now that Broken Hill is once again a dry, dusty landscape, it's entirely possible that Miller wants to take advantage of this environment for The Wasteland, lest he once again misses out on shooting there. That definitely adds a sense of plausibility to this current rumor.
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There's no release date set for Mad Max: The Wasteland but we'll update you as more information becomes available.
Source: Dark Horizons