How Furiosa Connects to the Wasteland

Aeagle-eyed audiences may have noticed the original hero of the Mad Max films, Max Rockatansky, in Furious, now in theaters. In the briefest scene, Furiosa runs past a dune in the desert. At the top of that dune is a man next to a car. That man, watching the action from above, is likely Max, standing next to his famous vehicle, the Interceptor.

If director George Miller gets his way, we’ll see Max again. Miller has spent more than 40 years working in various Mad Max films. But at 79, he’s not done yet. As the director recently told TIME, he has completed another Max-centric story, tentatively titled The land of waste. Whether this long-gestating film moves forward depends on the fate of Furious at the box office.

“Depending on the weather Furious gaining traction or not, this film is on the horizon,” he says. Will Tom Hardy return to play Max? Miller smiles conspiratorially. “If the planets align.”

Miller shared little information about The land of waste. But here’s what we know.

See more information: Furious It’s all show and no vision

What is it The land of waste?

The 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road diverged from Mad Max franchise in several ways. First, Miller replaced Mel Gibson with Tom Hardy as Max, the grizzled cop who lost his family at the start of the apocalypse. Secondly, he focused the action of Fury Road not in Max, but in a new protagonist: Imperator Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron in Fury Road and Anya Taylor-Joy in Furious).

When Miller was developing Fury Road– a process spanning nearly two decades – he wrote a complete story for Furiosa and shared it with his cast and crew so they could understand his motivations. This origin story became the basis for Furious.

He also wrote a Max-centric story that filled in the gaps between Max’s last appearance in the franchise in 1985. Mad Max beyond the Thunderdome (when the character was still played by Gibson) and the events of Fury Road. Set about a year before the events of Fury Roadfollows Max on some adventure in the arid, post-apocalyptic desert.

When will Wasteland occur in relation Furious?

Miller told TIME that the Wasteland It takes place a year before the events of Mad Max: Fury Road. Considering that the action of Furious run to events Fury Road–Furious literally ends with a preview of the montage Fury Road’The epic chase scene – that means The land of waste will overlap at the end of Furious.

Who’s starring The land of waste?

The film hasn’t been greenlit and hasn’t started casting yet, so there’s no word yet on who will star in the sixth. Mad Max film. But Miller told TIME that he expects Hardy to reprise his role as Max.

We know that Max and Furiosa don’t meet until the events of Fury Roadso Taylor-Joy is unlikely to appear in The land of waste. However, there is a chance we will see other characters from Furiouslike Chris Hemsworth’s villain Dementus, appear.