Posted in: Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: furiosa, mad max: fury road, movies, Warner Bros
Tom Burke Replaces Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in Furiosa
There has been a change in the cast of Furiosa. The spin-off from the absolutely fantastic Mad Max: Fury Road has had a bit of a hard time getting to the big screen. It was rumored for a long time, but it wasn't formally announced until 2020. George Miller is set to write and direct, and we gained three major cast members; Anya Taylor-Joy as a young Furiosa and Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in unknown roles. The movie was supposed to have a June 2023 release date but was recently pushed back to May 2024. The pushback may have been a reason they just lost one of their cast members. According to Deadline, Abdul-Mateen has been replaced with actor Tom Burke who made quite the impression last year in Mank in the still-unknown role.
Deadline notes that it was likely a scheduling issue that caused Abdul-Mateen to walk away from the production with "sources say it is a secret passion project he had been developing for some time, and production recently moved up on it, which ultimately led him to leaving Furiosa." In terms of a reason to leave a project, that is about the least scandalous version there is. Furiosa currently has a May 24, 2024 release date.
Furiosa isn't the only movie in the Mad Max universe that Miller is working on in some capacity. As late back as 2015, he has reportedly said that he has scripts for two sequels to Fury Road as well, but the 2017 lawsuit that Miller's production company filed against Warner Bros. was likely the main reason that there has been so little movement on the movies. Mad Max: Fury Road made over $300 million at the worldwide box office and brought in a ton of awards nominations and wins, including a best picture nomination, nine other nominations, and six very well deserved wins at the Academy Awards.