Furiosa’s New Immortan Joe Actor Makes The Mad Max Movie Even More Exciting

The news that Lachy Hulme will play Immortan Joe in the Mad Max spinoff Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is great for the prequel, assuaging any lingering concerns over stunt casting. Furiosa will be a departure for the Mad Max franchise in various ways. The upcoming prequel will be the first installment of the series that doesn’t focus primarily on Max himself. Instead, Furiosa will flesh out the backstory of Fury Road’s heroine, played by Charlize Theron in the 2015 movie. Furthermore, Furiosa will be an atypically starry affair, something the franchise has only leaned into on occasion until now.

While all of the Mad Max movies feature some famous faces, Furiosa’s A-list cast is still somewhat unusual for the series. Mad Max and its first sequel, The Road Warrior, were populated primarily by largely unknown Australian actors and Mel Gibson became a major star only after the movies were released. Beyond Thunderdome featured Tina Turner as Aunt Entity, but she was the sequel’s lone big name and the movie received mixed reviews. Fury Road starred Tom Hardy and Theron, but the rest of the cast was composed mostly of emerging stars like Nicholas Hoult and Riley Keough.

Who Is Lachy Hulme? Furiosa’s New Immortan Joe Actor Explained

Lachy Hulme has appeared in Romper Stomper and the Matrix sequels

In contrast, the upcoming Fury Road prequel Furiosa stars Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy, both of whom have numerous major blockbuster franchises to their names. This makes it all the more exciting that the lesser-known Australian character actor Lachy Hulme will play Immortan Joe in Furiosa. Furiosa actor Lachy Hulme recently revealed that the spinoff was originally going to avoid recasting Immortan Joe, which could have been distracting and awkward. Instead, in a more fitting tribute to the late Hugh Keays-Bryne’s Fury Road character, Hulme took over the part. Largely unknown in the US, Hulme is a surprisingly prolific Australian star.

Although Hulme is not internationally famous, he did appear in both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions as Sparks as well as The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course. More recently, he played a supporting role in Furiosa director George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing and appeared in the Garth Ennis adaptation Preacher. However, Hulme’s role as Blake, a charismatic, terrifying white nationalist in 2017’s Romper Stomper TV reboot, proves he is uniquely suited to playing Immortan Joe. Furiosa’s Immortan Joe must be both repugnant and captivating, a combination Hulme has nailed before, to justify his hold over Furiosa.

Why Lachy Hulme Playing Immortan Joe In Furiosa Is Exciting

Hulmes’s role makes Furiosa’s story less predictable

Casting any actor with a new take on Immortan Joe is a great way to honor one of the most memorable villains in recent decades. However, choosing a star who is mostly unknown to US audiences is particularly exciting since this contrasts with the big names in Furiosa’s cast. Hulme’s take on Immortan Joe will be more unpredictable since the star isn’t as well known as Hemsworth or Taylor-Joy, thus ensuring that this spinoff will still be able to surprise viewers. Since Furiosa’s plot precedes Fury Road, the Mad Max prequel must pull out all the stops to keep viewers guessing.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Director

George Miller

Release Date

May 24, 2024

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

Writers

George Miller , Nick Lathouris