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Uma Thurman was once considered for Mad Max: Fury Road's Furiosa

Kill (Immortan) Joe? It almost happened.

Uma Thurman in Kill Bill — Image credit: Miramax Films

Features by Fran Ruiz,

Published on Mon Apr 29 2024

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It's no secret that Mad Max: Fury Road's journey to the big screen was full of obstacles; some small, some huge. After a handful of iterations of the project, the movie was finally shot in 2012. Its cast could've felt quite different though. For example, Uma Thurman was considered for the role of Furiosa.

We must return to 2020 and the oral history of the movie published on The New York Times (via Syfy), when we learned from producer Doug Mitchell they'd looked at other actresses before we finally going with Charlize Theron, and that list included Kill Bill superstar Uma Thurman, which would've been fitting.

"There were a number of names thrown out for the female lead back when we first started, [like] Uma Thurman," he mentioned. While he didn't go into details, one can instantly see why they wanted to approach Thurman, who was still in everyone's minds after embodying one of the most powerful female characters of the 21th century in Beatrix "the Bride" Kiddo.

Thurman is another name in the long list of 'could-have-been' actors that circled the project for years, even as far back as the early 2000s. Big-name thespians such as Heath Ledger and Jeremy Renner were considered to take over the role of Max Rockatansky from Mel Gibson, and we're sure we've yet to hear more stories from the cast and crew about other names that were thrown around for the lead roles of George Miller's modern action masterpiece.

Regardless, the fourth Mad Max entry ended up being in good hands with Tom Hardy's Max and Theron's Furiosa, whom we'll probably meet again in future Mad Max installments. That is, after Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the Anya Taylor-Joy-led prequel, finally debuts in theaters this May.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is in theaters now - if you got confused (or haven't got there yet), we have a guide to all the big questions with that ending. Get more with articles on Furiosa's new ride, an itinerary on how (and where) to watch all the Mad Max movies in chronological or release order, and the Mad Max movies' entire timeline explained.

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