Geroge Miller has confirmed that he's moving ahead with the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel. He revealed to the New York Times that the stand-alone film will center on a young Furiosa, but don't expect to see Charlize Theron reprising her role.

Miller has been given the green light to begin auditions and is looking for an actress in her 20s to take over the lead role. He conceded that whoever is cast as Furiosa will have significant shoes to fill.

The 75-year-old director said he'd hoped to begin shooting this spring, but coronavirus interfered. "We’ll see what the world allows us to do with Furiosa,” he lamented.

Of course, much of the character and worldbuilding was accomplished in the decade and a half it took to bring Fury Road to the screen. The prequel will follow Furiosa's trajectory from the “Green Place,” her initiation into the Vuvalini, and her evolution into the hardened warrior immortalized in Fury Road.

Miller explained that the backstory “was purely a way of helping Charlize and explaining it to ourselves.” They found Furiosa’s story so compelling, however, that they decided to write a second screenplay before they even began shooting Fury Road.