'Mad Max' prequel 'Furiosa' will be the biggest film ever shot in Australia

Filmmaker George Miller is returning to his native Australia to film Furiosa, the fifth entry in the Mad Max film series, sharing the first details about the long-awaited film.

The prequel to 2015's award-winning Mad Max: Fury Road will star Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen's Gambit) in the title role — previously portrayed by Charlize Theron — alongside Chris Hemsworth and Aquaman's Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in as-yet-undisclosed parts.

The film's writer-director said the film will be an epic 'saga'.

“Whereas Fury Road essentially happened over three days and two nights, this happens over many years,” Miller said at a press conference for the film. ”You try to make films that are ‘uniquely familiar’.

Read more: How Tom Hardy's feud with Charlize Theron impacted Fury Road

“This will be familiar to those people who know Mad Max, and in particular Fury Road, but also it will be unique.”

Tom Hardy's Max Rockatansky is not set to play a part in the film. Fury Road filmed in Namibia after an unseasonably wet year left the Australian outback looking too green for the wasteland of the dystopian future.

Australian Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the movie would be 'the largest film ever to be filmed' in New South Wales and would bring at least £196 million into the economy.

Marvel star Hemsworth, currently shooting Thor: Love and Thunder in Sydney is thrilled to be involved the return of the iconic Aussie action series.

Read more: Charlize Theron 'heartbroken' to not return for Furiosa

“This will be my fourth or fifth film here in Australia,” the actor told AP.

“It really is, out of everything I’ve done, the biggest pinch-myself moment, because I’ve grown up watching it and it’s so iconic. It is a huge honour. A lot of pressure, but exciting pressure that is certainly motivating.”

Furiosa, which will explore the origins of Theron's shaven-headed wasteland warrior, is slated for release mid-2023 and will film across locations in New South Wales, including the desert mining town of Broken Hill.

The remote town was the inspiration Kenneth Cook's 1961 novel Wake in Fright, and has featured in many movies including Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Furiosa secured lucrative filming incentives to return to shoot in Australia following a long legal battle between Miller and Warner Bros over unpaid earnings that delayed production. Miller has put the legal battle behind him now saying: “Since we started Fury Road I think there’s been six different regimes at Warner Bros.

"Now it’s stabilised very much and they’re able to basically pay attention coherently to the films they want to make and this is one of them.”

Fury Road was a surprise hit when it was released in 2015, having endured a tortuous shoot that saw Hardy and Theron feuding on set. Despite a muted box office reception, it received ten Oscar nominations, winning six, and Empire magazine recently named it the best film of the 21st century so far.

Watch: Mad Max star Hugh Keays-Byrne dies in 2020