In this episode of “Previously On,” Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth steer us through 45 years of the ‘Mad Max’ saga ahead of their new film, ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Story.’ This video recaps the four previous Mad Max films, diving into the post-apocalyptic wasteland, the rise of Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson/Tom Hardy), the iconic characters like Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), and the high-octane vehicular mayhem that defines the franchise. Get ready for a wild ride through the desert as you gear up for Furiosa's origin story.
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00:00I'm biased, but I think Furiosa is the best character in the Mad Max saga.
00:07I mean, yeah, Furiosa's pretty awesome.
00:10Max is pretty cool, but I've got to say the dog from the first film.
00:13Hi, I'm Anya Taylor-Joy.
00:15And I'm Chris Hemsworth.
00:16And we are going to steer you through 45 years of Mad Max movies ahead of our new movie, Furiosa A Mad Max Saga.
00:22And warning, spoilers ahead.
00:25Previously on The Mad Max Saga.
00:28Mad Max is set in a near-future Australia wasteland where a widespread oil shortage has led to the fall of civilization, as we know it, and a devastating ecocide.
00:39Gasoline is the most valuable currency.
00:42It's the motorbike gangs, they rule the roads, and no one is safe.
00:46Mad Max, 1979.
00:49Mad Max tells the story of Max Rokitansky, legendary road warrior, top pursuit man of the main force patrol, and played by Mel Gibson in the first three films.
00:57Max has a hot saxophone-playing wife named Jessie and an infant son who they call Sprog.
01:03Mad Max opens with a car chase between the main force patrol, or MFP, and Knight Rider, a key member of a biker gang led by the intimidating Tokasa.
01:11Knight Rider evades officers in a stolen vehicle until Max enters the chase and steers Knight Rider into a roadblock where he crashes and dies in a fiery explosion.
01:28The MFP captain Fred Fifi McAfee gifts Max one of the last V8 Interceptor cars.
01:41Tokata's gang terrorizes a town while they mourn their fallen comrade Knight Rider.
01:57Max and his fellow MFP officer Jim Goose discover the victims of Tokata's rioting, plus an out-of-sorts Johnny the Boy, a psychotic younger member of the gang.
02:19Goose is then targeted by Tokata's gang and killed.
02:28Hey!
02:32This is a threshold moment, Johnny.
02:34Traumatized by the death of his friend, Max takes a holiday with his wife and son Sprog.
02:39Max and the family can't catch a break though. Tokata's gang soon finds them, kills their poor dog, then runs down Jessie and Sprog. Max is too late to save them.
02:58In a furious rage, Max takes justice into his own hands and hunts down the gang to avenge his family, officially earning his moniker Mad Max.
03:11Mad Max 2 The Road Warrior 1981
03:14Max is back as a lone rider haunted by the loss of his family traveling the wasteland in the Interceptor, accompanied by his new Australian cattle dog.
03:23Wherever he goes, he's only there for gasoline.
03:30The key players in the second film are Papagalo, the benevolent leader of a group of settlers who control a compound with their own oil rig.
03:37And Lord Humongous, what an incredible name. He's the leader of the gang threatening the settlers, and an all-round bad, bad dude.
03:53After Max helps save one of the settlers from an attack by Humongous' gang, the dying man offers to give Max a supply of fuel as thanks, but he dies before he can verify his promise to Papagalo.
04:12Humongous demands all of the settlers' fuel in exchange for their lives.
04:22The settlers are split on what to do, so Max offers his own deal.
04:36He'll help them sneak out their fuel in a tanker, and in return, he'll get his car back and all the gasoline he can carry.
04:42But Humongous catches the settlers trying to pull a fast one, and a battle ensues. There's flamethrowers, snakes, and a feral kid with his lethal boomerang.
05:03Max drives the tanker out of the compound with Papagalo in tow, luring the gang in one direction while the rest of the settlers escape safely in another.
05:11A high-speed battle ensues, Papagalo dies, and right as the gang nearly has them, the tanker topples over.
05:29Spilling out sand instead of gasoline.
05:31The gang abandons the mission when they realize the tanker was a decoy all along.
05:35And that's the last the settlers ever see of Max, who legend says is still wandering the wasteland according to the feral kid who narrated the whole story from adulthood.
05:58Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, 1985.
06:01In the third installment, we get Max with much longer hair.
06:05Other hair of note is that of Aunt Entity, leader of Barter Town, played by the legendary Tina Turner.
06:16There's also the two-for-one combo of Master Blaster. Master is the brains who runs Barter Town's refinery called Underworld, and Blaster is the brawn to Master's brains.
06:26Aunt Entity hires Max for a hit job. His mission? Take out Blaster. His winnings? Should he succeed? Good old gasoline.
06:44By the laws of Barter Town, Max and Blaster fight in the Thunderdome.
06:56Welcome to another edition of Thunderdome!
07:00Blaster may have the strength, but Max is too clever and comes out on top, but ultimately takes mercy on him.
07:12Max is exiled to the wasteland for breaking his deal with Aunt Entity and is rescued by warrior girl Savannah Nix, who takes him to an oasis called Planet Earth.
07:27Planet Earth is ruled by mostly children, who believe Max is a fabled pilot named Captain Walker who will fly them to Tomorrow Morrow Land.
07:43Max breaks the bad news that Tomorrow Morrow Land doesn't exist, and Savannah Nix and a group of separatists decide to leave for Barter Town.
07:50Knowing the kids won't make it a day in the wasteland, and unable to convince them to stay, Max has no choice but to shepherd them across the desert.
08:03When Max and the teens reach Barter Town, they team up with Master to overthrow Underworld, leading to an all-out war with Aunt Entity.
08:21The motley crew escapes to a desolate Sydney, where they plan to build a new community, but Max stays behind to continue wandering the wasteland alone.
08:36Mad Max Fury Road 2015
08:39Thirty years later, enter Tom Hardy playing Max still wandering the wasteland.
08:44Our players include Immortan Joe, warlord who rules over the Citadel, played by Hugh Keesburn, who, fun fact, also played Toe Cutter in the first Mad Max film.
08:54Imperator Furiosa, Joe's one-armed lieutenant, played by Charlize Theron, and a conspirator who smuggles Joe's five wives out of the Citadel right under his gas mask.
09:04Nux, one of Joe's war boys who is in bad health but eager to join the fight.
09:09The wives. Toast, Capable, The Dag, Cheeto, and Angharad, who is pregnant with Joe's child, and the Volvalini, an all-female clan Furiosa was kidnapped from as a child.
09:23Max is captured and imprisoned in the Citadel, while Immortan Joe sends Furiosa on a routine trade run, not knowing Furiosa has hidden his prized wives inside the war rig.
09:39Where is she taking them?
09:42She didn't take them, they begged her to go!
09:45When Joe finds out his five wives short, he sends an army of war boys plus a fire-blowing heavy metal guitarist to hunt them down.
09:57Nux uses Max as a blood bag strapped to the front of his car to join the pursuit, as one does.
10:02Furiosa shakes them off in a sandstorm, and Max and Nux get toppled into the fray.
10:12Oh, what a day! What a lovely day!
10:15Max catches up to Furiosa and fights her for water and freedom, leaving Nux in the dust.
10:19As Immortan Joe's army starts to catch up, Max reluctantly teams up with Furiosa and the wives to get away.
10:25Joe nearly has them in his clutches and allows Nux to redeem himself by dealing the killing blow to Furiosa.
10:31Unfortunately for Nux, he flubs it.
10:50Angeharad falls off the rig and is accidentally run over by Joe.
10:55Joe recovers her body and tries to save his unborn child, but the baby is already gone.
10:59Hey, Rictus! You lost a baby brother!
11:06Perfect in every way.
11:08I had a baby brother! I had a little baby brother! And he was perfect! Perfect in every way!
11:17Furiosa reunites with the remaining Valvolini clan, who inform her that the green place from her childhood no longer exists.
11:24Furiosa is inconsolable.
11:30The group plans to ride across a vast salt flat in search of another land,
11:35but Max convinces them that their best chance is to overthrow Joe and claim the Citadel.
11:40Furiosa kills Immortan Joe.
11:43Remember me?
11:48And they bring his body back to the Citadel, where they unleash gallons of hoarded fresh water over the celebrating crowd.
12:00Furiosa – A Mad Max Saga 2024
12:04Furiosa, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, takes the helm in this prequel following her origin story 20 years prior to the events of Fury Road.
12:17Furiosa!
12:19They took Furiosa!
12:21Furiosa is stolen from the green place as a child and delivered to the Warlord Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth.
12:26Warlord Dementus is the leader of the powerful biker horde responsible for kidnapping Furiosa from the green place,
12:34and who challenges Immortan Joe for control of the Citadel.
12:37As Furiosa navigates life in the wasteland, she plans her escape back to her home in a war for dominance over the Citadel bruise.
12:44In our film, we finally see how Furiosa becomes the one-armed, shaved-head Imperator we all know and love.
12:51There will always be war, but take it home.
12:56Furiosa fought the world.
13:09And that, war boys and girls, is the entire rundown, all the speed bumps and highway battles of The Mad Max Saga.
13:16Ooh, and the war boys, to be honest, in their entirety. Nothing makes it feel like a Mad Max movie without the war boys.