Fans have been anticipating the prequel to Fury Road for years, and the buzz for the film skyrocketed after the exhilarating trailer for Furiosa hit the internet. There’s a lot to unpack in the new footage from George Miller’s Mad Max Saga. However, what’s probably most surprising is the way some fans have reacted to all of the new information we’re getting about Furiosa – especially the common refrain now that we’ve gotten our first real glimpse of a wildly different-looking Chris Hemsworth.
It’s obvious that Chris Hemsworth is thrilled to finally be sharing more information about Furiosa. The Thor: Love and Thunder star, who plays a still-unnamed villain, has said that filming the upcoming action movie was the best experience of his acting career. Shortly after the new trailer was released, Hemsworth shared an exclusive photo of his character on Instagram to promote the film. Take a look at the stunning shot here:
While his transformation into a Mad Max villain is pretty shocking, what struck me most about the response was that many of the people in his comments weren’t talking about the actor at all. In fact, they were much more concerned with the lack of Fury Road star Tom Hardy. Here are some of the most surprising reactions:
- “Total flop Where’s hardy” – @itxfarazi
- “Destroyed the entire mad max saga…miss tom hardy” – @qasiizafar
- “Good but it can be better if Tom Hardy did this role.” – @mr._tapas_sen_
- “We like you chris but tom hardy was better” – @danish_malik09
- “Broo I am also a Chris fan but here we need Tom Hardy so hard” – @i_am_creative_dhruv
It looks like even Hemsworth’s own fans felt the need to share their dismay at the Venom star’s absence. I’m a little surprised to see just how many people were taking digs at Furiosa’s leading man, I mean did you see that trailer?
Sure, it would be great to see Hardy reprise his role in George Miller’s iconic franchise – his portrayal of Max Rockatansky helped make Mad Max: Fury Road one of the best action films of all time. However, there are probably better places to share that sentiment than in the comments section of another actor’s post about the movie.
There are also plenty of good reasons that Mad Max’s titular antihero won’t be showing up in the prequel – namely that it serves as an origin story for Charlize Theron’s Fury Road protagonist. In Furiosa, we’ll see Anya Taylor-Joy portray the fierce warrior, years before she teamed up with Rockatansky to overthrow Immortan Joe. Given the nature of the new film’s story, it just wouldn’t make sense for her future ally to make an appearance.
I understand why fans are disappointed to miss out on more time with Tom Hardy, but I would have expected at least a few people to comment on how un-Thor like Hemsworth’s appearance is. While he’s not completely unrecognizable in the photo he shared – which shows him standing at the bottom of a sand dune – the A-lister looks much more bedraggled and grimy than we are used to seeing. And even though his signature muscles are on display in his road warrior gear, he’s seemingly donning a prosthetic nose to bring this new character to life, which definitely makes you do a double-take when you’re trying to figure out if it’s really him.
Now that we know what Hemsworth’s character looks like, I’m even more intrigued to learn more about who he will be playing, and how his character fits into the Mad Max lore. Hopefully, fans will set aside their disappointment about Hardy and fully embrace the wild ride we’re sure to go on when Furiosa hits theaters on May 24 on the 2024 movie schedule.