Mad Max: The Wasteland Takes a Surprising Turn After Furiosa Flops

Mad Max: The Wasteland isn’t dead, it’s just changing lanes. Word is George Miller’s long-discussed prequel is no longer being built as a movie and is instead being reworked as a TV series. Given how Furiosa performed at the box office, this pivot actually tracks.

What’s happening

According to the Mad Max Bible podcast, The Wasteland is now being developed as an episodic series rather than a feature film. This isn’t officially announced by Warner Bros., but the reporting lines up with the reality that Furiosa — despite strong reviews — brought in just over $174 million worldwide on a reported $233 million budget. Translation: great movie, rough business outcome. In the wake of that, it makes sense that WB would want a less risky way to keep the brand alive.

How we got here (the short, messy version)

• George Miller has been circling The Wasteland for years. Per the podcast, he originally imagined it as a TV series.
• Then it morphed into a video game idea for a while. Yes, that’s a real thing that almost happened.
• After Miller revived the franchise with the Tom Hardy-led Fury Road, The Wasteland came back into focus — this time as a movie.
• Momentum stalled in 2017 when Miller sued Warner Bros. over payment issues. After that, updates on The Wasteland went basically silent.
• Fast-forward to 2024: Furiosa lands with critics but underperforms financially, and now The Wasteland is reportedly steering back to TV. SuperHeroHype was among the first outlets to flag the podcast’s report.

So what is The Wasteland, exactly?

It’s a prequel set one year before Fury Road, centered on Max Rockatansky trying to survive in the scorched mess that passes for civilization. Think more sand, more engines, more desperate people doing desperate things — but a little closer to where we meet Max in Fury Road.

Will Tom Hardy be back?

That part is unclear. The reporting doesn’t say whether Hardy is returning as Max for the series version. Until WB or Miller says something on the record, assume it’s a question mark.

The inside baseball

The media-shuffle history here is wild: TV series idea, then video game, then film, now back to TV. That’s not typical, even for a franchise with a cult following and a director as meticulous as Miller. But financially, it adds up. Furiosa’s performance makes a 9-figure Max movie a tougher sell right now, while a series could spread the spend and keep the world-building going without betting the entire refinery on one opening weekend.

Bottom line

The Wasteland hasn’t vanished — it’s just taking the episodic route. If the podcast’s report holds, we’re getting more time in Miller’s beautifully broken world, just in a format that fits the current reality of the business. As long as the engines roar and the dust flies, I’m in.