If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you could be watching Charlize Theron back in action hero mode right now, as her new movie The Old Guard 2 is now available to stream. Fans have waited a long time for Theron’s return as Andy, as The Old Guard first debuted back in 2020… but at least she got the opportunity to reprise the character, which was something she regrets not being able to do for George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
While Theron delivered one of the greatest, most celebrated performances of her career as Furiosa in Md Max: Fury Road (and let’s not forget that she is an Oscar-winner), she had to stand by and watch the role go to Anya Taylor-Joy for the prequel. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Theron notes that she knows there was no ill-intent behind the recasting, and she was ultimately impressed by the vision of the 2024 movie, but it still burns. Said the actress,
There’s nothing around [the recasting] that, to me, felt malicious. It was something that just dragged out for too long, and I totally understand it. It still doesn’t make it feel any better. I probably lived in [Furiosa’s] body the longest out of any of my characters, and it was challenging. It was really challenging. But I think [Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga] is absolutely beautiful.
The story behind the making of Mad Max: Fury Road has risen to the level of notorious, as the production faced a number of major set backs, and there was a consequential conflict between Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy spurred by their very different working habits. On top of all that, Theron was tasked with playing a tough and complicated character with extremely high emotional walls and a lot of pain in her past.
Peace between the actors was made after filming wrapped (Hardy even painted a self-portrait for her as a gift), and the movie is now regarded as one of the greatest cinematic accomplishments of the 21st century. But time wasn’t on Theron’s side when it came to developing the prequel – which George Miller envisioned as he was making Mad Max: Fury Road. Hands were forced, Anya Taylor-Joy was recast, and now she has to live with the nagging regret of not getting to star in Furiosa.
Perhaps we’ll one day George Miller will decide to complete a Furiosa trilogy, and Charlize Theron will be able to tell the story of what happens in the aftermath of Fury Road… but for now, she is plenty busy with other projects. In addition to having The Old Guard 2 now on Netflix, she has completed work on director Baltasar Kormákur’s new thriller Apex and is attached to star with Daniel Craig in Justin Lin’s Two For The Money. She is also developing Atomic Blonde 2 and is currently filming Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey.