“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is a thrilling prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road” and the 5th installment in George Miller’s Mad Max franchise. This 2024 post-apocalyptic action movie is more than just car chases. It is set 15–20 years before the story in Fury Road and explores the background of a young Furiosa, played by Anya Taylor-Joy with strong determination. Tom Hardy is not the main focus this time. Instead, Chris Hemsworth stars as a fierce warlord who becomes an enemy to Furiosa, an inhabitant of the Green Place whose mother dies in the hands of Dementus.
Cast with Characters
- Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy/Alyla Brown): The protagonist who is kidnapped by a biker gang and eventually taken to Dementus. She seeks revenge for her mother’s death and wants to return to the Green Place.
- Dementus (Chris Hemsworth): A powerful warlord who captures Furiosa and seeks to find the Green Place. He later becomes Furiosa’s primary antagonist and ruler of Gastown.
- Praetorian Jack (Tim Burke): A character who becomes an ally to Furiosa, helping her in her mission but is eventually killed by Dementus.
- Valkyrie (Dylan Adonis): Furiosa’s friend who is with her in the forests of the Green Place at the beginning of the film.
- Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme): The ruler of the Citadel who forces Dementus to hand over Furiosa and the Organic Mechanic to secure a deal.
- Mary Jabassa (Charles Fraser): Furiosa’s mother who tries to rescue her daughter from the bikers but is ultimately killed by Dementus.
- Vuvalini General (Elsa Pataky): An important figure in the Green Place who initially follows Mary in the rescue attempt but stays behind for the settlement’s protection.
- People-Eater (John Howard): An ally of Immortan Joe, present during Dementus’ initial confrontation with the Citadel.
- Rictus (Nathan Jones): Another ally of Immortan Joe, also present during Dementus’ initial confrontation with the Citadel.
- Scrotus (Josh Helman): Also aligned with Immortan Joe, part of the leadership at the Citadel.
- Organic Mechanic (Angus Sampson): A knowledgeable man taken by Immortan Joe along with Furiosa, believed to be beneficial for Joe’s regime.
- The Octoboss (Goran D. Kleut): Leader of a group of riders who attack Furiosa and Jack’s caravan on their first trip.
- History Man (George Shevtsov): A character who narrates or shares beliefs about Furiosa’s revenge on Dementus, providing multiple theories about his demise.
Plot Summary
The Green Place was a secret oasis in the harsh desert that young Furiosa cherished. But she was kidnapped by bikers led by Dementor. Her mother tried to save her, but tragically failed. Dementor kept Furiosa captive, seeing her as a substitute for his own lost children. He later took her to confront Immortan Joe. After gaining control over Joe’s allies in Gastown, Furiosa ended up under Joe’s guardianship at the Citadel. To evade Joe’s sons, she disguised herself as a boy and teamed up with Praetorian Jack on dangerous missions. Throughout it all, Furiosa’s intense desire for revenge against Dementor, who had killed her mother and torn her from her home, motivated her actions.
What Happened To Furiosa’s Mother?
At the beginning of the movie, Furiosa and her friend Valkyrie were picking fruits in a fertile forest that they called Green Place. The Green Place was a hidden oasis in the desert. Furiosa, however, suddenly heard some sounds approaching them, as if intruders were here. She crept up to the bikers and stealthily disabled their bikes. Despite the fact that this seemed like an innocent act, she knew very well that she could not let the bikers know their location to avoid risking their lives. Nevertheless, she was captured by the biker gang.
Just before being seized, Furiosa blew her whistle, which alerted Mary Jabassa, her mother, and other Vuvalini warriors, who immediately began chasing them to save her life. Mary and Vuvalini General decided to rescue Furiosa and protect their secret place by chasing down the riders. Mary decided to go alone as Vuvalini General had to look after the Green Place. After shooting one of them in the leg and taking his bike away, Mary bravely took on each one of them on her own, except for Dementus, the leader of them all, who eventually killed her right before Furiosa’s very eyes.
Furiosa vowed to survive and return to the Green Place someday after she saw her mother’s sad death. Furiosa silently plotted her escape even though she was taken captive by Dementus, who highly treasured her, thinking that she knew the whereabouts of the Green Place. She decorated her hands with stars in the form of tattoos over time so as to remember where she comes from and act as guidance throughout.
Furiosa’s determination to reclaim her freedom and seek justice was fueled by the death of her mother and being in captivity under Dementus. It is this deep-seated desire for revenge that drives her journey in the film—a longing for a return to the Green Place, which is a haven of peace.
How Did Furiosa End Up At The Citadel?
While Dementus was tracking a trail of red dust in the sky, he quite unexpectedly stumbled upon Citadel. He became curious and followed it to meet a silver-faced man who told him about Immortan Joe, the ruler of Citadel. Despite warnings, Dementus dared and shouted at the Citadel to surrender.
Together with his associates, Immortan Joe watched from a cliff when Dementus spoke. Joe had one of his soldiers commit suicide to prove the loyalty of his warboys, which then caused mayhem with an explosion to drive Dementus away. However, Dementus had to fall back with his crew after realizing they needed to come up with a better plan in order to defeat Joe.
By capturing an oil rig owned by Joe’s men, Dementus acquired plenty of fuel for the next part of the campaign, which was attacking Gastown—another crucial location in the wastelands—through manipulation and force.
Joe agreed to a truce meeting after receiving information concerning what happened at Gastown. During this meeting, Dementus accidentally killed the leader of Gastown but successfully took over. Joe asked when Furiosa would show up and take her away since she is still young enough for his breeding program, but he also demanded Organic Mechanic’s presence because he possessed valuable knowledge.
After that eventful day, Furiosa ended up at the Citadel. Initially, she was kept as one of the wives, but she escaped when Rictus showed an attraction to her. After escaping, she lived by pretending to be a mute boy so that she could avoid getting close with Joe’s sons. All through this moment, she nursed an intense grudge against Dementus for the loss of her home city, which indirectly caused the death of her mother. Her stay at the Citadel became a quest for justice and freedom in a tough and rough post-apocalyptic world.
What Happened To Praetorian Jack?
Becoming a breeder was not Furiosa’s aim. She got away, cut her hair, and disguised herself among the war boys. She impressed Scrotus with her agility, who then gave her a slot in Joe’s manufacturing unit. They were supposed to come up with a unique oil rig from components that were lying about in heaps. Thus, when Praetorian Jack was assigned the task of delivering the rig at Gastown and the Bullet Farm, it was a mission that sparked Furiosa’s attention. The Mortiflyers, who were once allies of Dementus, attacked their convoy during their first trip.
The Octoboss, Dementus’s lieutenant, turns against him after he is disheartened by his callousness. It was an aerial strike on the Rig. His Mortifliers wipe out the whole crew as well as destroy Furiosa’s hidden motorbike. Furiosa and Jack decide to work together so that they can defeat them. As a result, Jack manages to stop her from stealing the Rig back home. He offers to train her in case she would help him rebuild his team since he saw what she could do. She accepts this and becomes Jack’s second-in-command, which also earns her the title of Praetorian. They become close as Jack promises to send her to the Green Place and equip her with whatever she needs.
Joe takes this opportunity when he makes up his mind to attack Gastown, which had been almost ruined by Dementus. Also, Joe instructs Furiosa and Jack to collect weapons as well as ammunition from Bullet Farm, which is a friendly mining site.
Dementus ambushes both of them there. Furiosa was told to leave, but she had grown attached to Jack, so she went in and helped Jack. Furiosa, with her left arm is injured, and Jack barely escapes.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) Ending Explained: Does Furiosa Kill Dementus?
Dementus and his men end up catching up to Furiosa and Jack. He decides to teach a lesson. Furiosa was tied and made to watch in horror as Dementus brutally killed Jack. Jack was tied to a cable that was attached to a car and was brutally killed as the car kept moving in circles for hours, with Dementus’ dogs attacking Jack’s body as well. Desperate to escape, she made the gut-wrenching decision to she sever her own arm. With a sense of revenge and sheer determination, she returned to the Citadel and struck an alliance with Immortan Joe. With Furiosa’s insights, The People Eater and her strategise to catch Dementus off guard and launch an all-out assault on him and his gang, decimating most of them in an epic battle. The battle became the historic 40-day wasteland battle.
This harrowing experience deeply changed Furiosa. She shaved her head and equipped herself with a mechanical prosthetic arm, a symbol of her readiness to face Dementus alone and avenge the pain he caused her.
In a tense, final showdown, Furiosa steals a car to catch Dementus. After some struggle, she found him stranded in the desert. Finally, she found him parched, vulnerable and in her mercy. She confronts him with a gun, though he couldn’t recognize her. After she tells him, he tries to reason with her, arguing that killing him would make her just like him. After a moment of contemplation, she stayed silent for a long time before shooting him.
What happens next is shrouded in legend. Narrated by History Man, some say Furiosa did more than just simply shoot him. She might have tortured him like Dementus tortured Jack or mutilated him over fire. However, the truth was told by Furiosa herself. She planted the peach seed in Dementus’ body in the Citadel’s gardens, where a peach tree miraculously grew from his body. The tree used him as a source of sustenance and lived the rest of his life in agony.
In the end, Furiosa picks a peach from the tree that grew from Dementus and shares it with the Five Wives of Citadel and others, a symbolic act of completing her revenge. But even with her vengeance fulfilled, Furiosa’s journey isn’t over. She still yearns to return home, unaware that her beloved homeland might be gone by the time she gets there.
